SDeobam  Historical  Society 

GrIVTGN    BY 

Michigan  Hist .Commission 
May  16,1913 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


PUBLIC  LIFE 

).'  ^        '  Of 

ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER 

1851-1875 


BY 


WILMER  C.  HARRIS,  Ph.  D. 


LANSING 
MICHIGAN  HISTORICAL  COMMISSION 

1917 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


PREFACE 

TTHIS  little  monograph  is  intended  in  no  way  to  su- 
persede  the  Post  and  Tribune  "Life  of  Zachariah 
Chandler."  That  interesting  work  will  remain  a  mine 
of  information  for  the  student  of  Mr.  Chandler's 
political  career.  It  was  written  by  his  friends  and 
contains  information  which  would  be  difficult  if  not 
impossible  for  the  student  of  the  present  day  to  find 
elsewhere.  But,  written  by  his  friends  at  a  time  when 
the  stirring  events  with  which  Mr.  Chandler  was 
connected  were  still  fresh  in  their  minds,  the  Post  and 
Tribune  "Life"  is  necessarily  not  wholly  impartial. 

In  presenting  to  the  public  another  study  of  Zach 
ariah  Chandler,  I  ask  consideration  for  three  reasons: 
first,  I  can,  I  believe,  write  with  reasonable  impartia 
lity;  second,  I  will  present  Mr.  Chandler  as  a  typical 
product  of  his  time,  a  fire-eater  of  the  Northwest,  the 
representative  in  the  United  States  Senate  of  the 
radical  spirit  dominant  among  his  constituents  during 
the  epoch  of  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction;  third,  I 
will  present  Mr.  Chandler  as  the  exponent  of  a  system 
of  practical  politics,  which  will,  I  hope,  be  of  interest 
to  the  student  of  American  history. 

To  those  who,  by  their  sympathy  and  aid,  have 
assisted  me,  I  desire  to  express  my  most  sincere  ap 
preciation.  I  am  especially  indebted  to  Prof.  C.  H. 
Van  Tyne  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  Prof. 
F.  L.  Paxson  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  who 


4  PREFACE 

encouraged  me  to  continue  graduate  work  beyond  the 
Master's  degree  and  suggested  "Zachariah  Chandler" 
as  a  subject  for  my  doctoral  dissertation.  For  valuable 
suggestions  in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  this  subject, 
I  wish  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  Prof.  A.  C. 
-McLaughlin  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  without 
making  him  responsible  in  any  way  for  the  defects  of 
my  work. 

Librarians  and  attendants  at  the  libraries  where  I 
"have  worked,  have  been  uniformly  anxious  to  aid  me 
in  locating  material.  Among  these  I  should  especially 
mention  Mr.  Gaillard  Hunt  and  Mr.  Fitzpatrick  of 
the  Manuscripts  Division  and  Mr.  Morrison  of  the 
reading  room  of  the  Library  of  Congress;  Mr.  Utley 
8f  the  Detroit  Public  Library;  Mr.  Cleavinger  of  the 
Jackson  Public  Library  and  Mrs.  Ferrey  of  the  Michi 
gan  Pioneer  and  Historical  Society.  The  private 
library  of  Mr.  C.  M.  Burton  of  Detroit  has  been  open 
to  me  with  the  same  generosity  which  is  always  shown 
there  to  students  of  Michigan  history. 

Judge  John  J.  Speed  and  Mr.  H.  M.  Utley  of  Detroit ; 
Hon.  James  O'Donnell,  Edward  W.  Barber  and  Geo. 
W.  Kennedy  of  Jackson,  Michigan;  Samuel  L.  Kil- 
bourne  and  Elias  Martin  of  Lansing,  Michigan,  are 
among  those  whom  I  have  interviewed.  The  late 
Prof.  Martin  L.  D'Ooge  of  the  University  of  Michigan 
and  Hon.  Gerrit  J.  Diekema  of  Holland,  Michigan, 
were  consulted  in  regard  to  the  Hollanders  in  Western 
Michigan.  Mr.  Joseph  A.  Labadie  of  Detroit  gave 
me  some  information  in  regard  to  the  French  element 
in  Detroit;  Mr.  Le  Roy  Parker  of  Batavia,  N.  Y., 
wrote  me  in  regard  to  his  part  in  the  Senatorial  contest 


PREFACE  5 

in  January,  1875,  and  Rev.  Henry  P.  Collin  of  Cold- 
water,  Michigan,  very  kindly  interviewed  for  me  Mr, 
George  Van  Aken  and  others  in  Branch  County  in 
regard  to  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Chandler  in  January,  1875. 
Mr.  J.  B.  Edmonson,  Principal  of  the  Jackson  High 
School,  assisted  me  in  every  way  within  his  power. 

Mrs.  Amelia  Frink  Redfield  of  Marshall,  Michigan^ 
allowed  me  to  copy  some  eighteen  letters  written  by 
Mr.  Chandler  to  her  grandfather,  Charles  T.  Gorharn 
of  Marshall.  For  this  I  am  especially  grateful. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

I.     Mayor  of  Detroit 7 

II.     Candidate  for  Governor  of  Michigan 14 

III.  The  Formation  of  the  Republican  Party  in  Mich 

igan  20 

IV.  The  Basis  of  Michigan  Politics 30 

V.     Elected  to  Succeed  Lewis  Cass  in  Senate 39 

VI.     Early  Years  in  U.S.  Senate  and  the  Campaign  of 

1860 44 

VII.     The  War  Begins 53 

VIII.     The   Campaign   of    1862   in   Michigan   and   Mr. 

Chandler's  Second  Election  to  U.  S.  Senate 63 

IX.     In  the  Senate,  1863  and  1864 70 

X.     The  Years  1865-66 82 

XL     Foreign  Affairs  and  Reconstruction 95 

XII.     Mr.  Chandler's  Third  Election  to  U.  S.  Senate.  .  .  102 

XIII.  Grant's  First  Administration  and  the  Campaign  of 

1872 Ill 

XIV.  Grant's  Second  Term  and  Mr.  Chandler's  Defeat 

in  1875 123 

XV.     Summary    of    Mr.    Chandler's    Political    Career, 

1875-1879 133 

Bibliography 139 

Index..  145 


ZACHAKIAH  CHANDLER 

From  a  photograph  by  Sarony,  New  York. 


PUBLIC   LIFE   OF  ZACHARIAH 
CHANDLER 


CHAPTER  I 
MAYOR  OF  DETROIT 

the  evening  of  February  19,  1851,  a  Whig 
Convention,  composed  of  delegates  from  the 
several  wards  of  the  city,  nominated  Zachariah  Chand 
ler  for  Mayor  of  Detroit.  This  was  Mr.  Chandler's 
first  candidacy  for  public  office.  A  native  of  Bedford, 
New  Hampshire,  at  the  age  of  twenty  he  had  joined 
the  swelling  tide  of  immigration  that  poured  into 
Michigan  from  New  England  and  New  York  in  1833, 
Engaging  in  the  mercantile  business,  his  prosperity 
had  kept  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  State  and  the 
year  1851  found  him,  at  thirty-seven  years  of  age,  a 
wealthy  and  respected  merchant  with  the  disposition 
and  the  leisure  to  enter  public  life. 

Detroit  in  1851  was  "booming."  In  the  four  years 
from  1850  to  1854  its  population  increased  from 
21,019  to  40,373.  At  a  conservative  estimate  it  had 
25,000  inhabitants  in  1851.  The  rapid  growth  of  the 
city  called  for  a  proportionate  extension  of  the  system 
of  city  improvements — sewers  had  to  be  dug,  water- 


8  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

mains  laid,  pavements  and  sidewalks  built.  All  this 
meant  expenditure  of  large  sums  of  money,  and  Mr. 
Chandler  was  put  forward  by  the  Whigs  as  a  man  who 
possessed  the  requisite  business  ability  properly  to 
care  for  the  city's  interests.  "It  is  an  old  and  good 
saying,"  argued  the  Whigs,  "that  he  who  is  diligent 
and  faithful  and  honest  in  his  own  affairs  will  be 
diligent  and  faithful  and  honest  in  the  affairs  of  others 
whenever  committed  to  his  charge."1 

The  Democratic  candidate  was  Gen.  John  R. 
Williams.  General  Williams  was  a  wealthy  merchant 
almost  seventy  years  of  age.  He  had  already  served 
six  terms  as  Mayor  and  stood  high  in  the  councils  of 
the  Democratic  party. 

Detroit,  as  well  as  Michigan,  was  a  Democratic 
stronghold.  In  the  mayoralty  campaign  of  1851,  the 
Whigs,  realizing  the  necessity  of  gaining  Democratic 
votes  in  order  to  elect  their  ticket,  subordinated  the 
argument  of  party  regularity  and  relied  on  the  "local 
interest"  issue.  The  Democrats,  who  only  needed  to 
prevent  voters  from  bolting  their  party  ticket  in 
order  to  be  successful  at  the  polls,  strongly  urged 
"loyalty  to  the  Democratic  party  of  Michigan." 

Fortunately  for  Mr.  Chandler,  the  year  1851  was 
not  one  in  which  a  governor  or  a  president  .was  to  be 
elected.  Democrats  therefore  did  not  feel  the  same 
necessity  for  party  loyalty  in  the  mayoralty  election 
that  they  did,  say,  in  1852  when  the  result  of  the 
local  election  could  be  cited  as  an  indication  of  party 
strength  in  the  Presidential  contest.  Enough  Demo 
crats  split  their  tickets  in  1851  to  elect  Mr.  Chandler. 

1.    Detroit  Daily  Advertiser,  March  1,  1851. 


SAMUEL  CHANDLER 

Father  of  Zachariah  Chandler.     From  a  photograph  by  D.  O.  Fttrnald, 
of  Manchester,  N.  H. 


MAYOR  OF  DETROIT  9 

In  1852  they  stood  by  the  ticket  and  elected  a  Demo 
cratic  mayor.  Mr.  Chandler's  majority  was  349.2 
Two  other  Whigs  were  elected;  a  city  marshal  by  352 
votes  and  a  sexton  by  269.  Of  twenty  city  officers 
elected  the  Whigs  gained  three  and  the  Democrats 
seventeen. 

The  office  of  Mayor  of  Detroit  in  1851  was  not 
one  to  attract  the  professional  politician.  There  were 
arduous  duties  to  be  performed  with  reference  to  the 
city  administration  and  the  rewards  were  meager. 
The  office  carried  with  it  no  salary,  and  except  for  a 
fee  of  one  dollar3  for  each  case  tried  before  him  in  the 
Mayor's  Court  the  Mayor  received  no  remuneration 
for  his  services.  Custom  demanded4  that  the  Mayor 
subscribe  liberally  to  charity  and  to  various  associa 
tions  for  moral,  religious  and  literary  purposes.  He 
was  supposed  to  dispense  the  hospitality  becoming  to 
his  station.  Necessarily,  then,  the  office  was  open 
only  to  men  of  wealth  and  public  spirit  who  were 
content  with  the  rewards  that  the  honorable  position 
and  the  opportunity  to  serve  the  city  gave  them.  In 
1852,  when  Mr.  Chandler's  term  was  about  to  expire, 
two  Whigs  declined  the  nomination  before  a  third  was 
found  who  was  willing  to  become  a  candidate.5 

As  soon  as  the  result  of  the  election  was  ascertained, 
the  Whigs  gathered  in  front  of  the  business  place  of 
Mr.  Chandler  and  formed  a  procession  which,  headed 

2.  Official  City  Canvass  as  given  by  the  Advertiser,  March 

8,  1851. 

3.  Revised  Charter  and  Ordinances  of  the  City  of  Detroit, 

1855. 

4.  Advertiser,  February  17,  1852. 

5.  Detroit  Free  Press,  February  23,  1851. 


10  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER 

by  a  brass  band,  marched  to  the  residence  of  the 
Mayor-elect.  Summoned  to  the  door  by  the  cheers 
of  his  constituents,  Mr.  Chandler  made  a  brief  address 
and  then  extended  a  general  invitation  to  all  to  enter 
and  partake  of  the  hospitality  of  his  house.6  On 
March  11,  he  took  the  oath  of  office,  made  an  address 
to  the  Council  and  was  escorted  to  his  home  by  several 
hundred  of  his  fellow  citizens  preceded  by  the  in 
evitable  brass  band.  Having  made  a  short  address 
at  his  home,  Mr.  Chandler  closed  with  a  general 
invitation  to  all  to  visit  him  the  next  day  at  three 
o'clock.7 

That  Mr.  Chandler  was  a  strong  party  man  is 
evidenced  early  in  his  administration.8  It  seems  that 
the  contract  for  the  city  printing  was  a  political 
" plum"  that,  notwithstanding  a  clause  in  the  city 
charter  providing  for  open  competition,  was  by  com 
mon  consent  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  newspaper 
which  represented  the  party  which  had  a  majority  of 
the  Council.  In  1851,  political  parties,  with  a  full 
board,  were  equally  represented  in  the  Council,  but 
the  vote  of  the  Mayor  gave  the  control  to  the  Whigs. 
There  were  two  Whig  papers,  the  Advertiser  and  the 
Tribune.  The  Free  Press  was  Democratic.  In  the 
latter  part  of  March,  Mr.  Carew,  one  of  the  Whig 
aldermen,  was  out  of  the  city  and  Mr.  Chandler  found 
it  necessary  to  leave  for  New  York  at  the  opening  of 

6.  Free  Press,  February  23,  1851. 

7.  Advertiser,  March  13,  1851. 

8.  For  this  account  I  have  relied  on  the  Advertiser  and  Free 

Press  from  March  20  to  June  23.  The  Council  pro 
ceedings  are  found  in  the  Advertiser  as  well  as  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Common  Council  1844-1852. 


- 


SAMUEL  CHANDLER 

Of  Bedford,  N.  H.    Father  of  Zachariah  Chandler.    From  a  daguerreo 
type  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Eugene  Hale,  Ellsworth,  Maine. 


MAYOR  OF  DETROIT  11 

navigation  to  purchase  goods  for  his  mercantile  busi 
ness.  The  printing  contract  had  not  yet  been  attended 
to.  With  both  Alderman  Carew  and  the  Mayor,  ab 
sent,  the  Democrats  would  control  the  Council  and 
could  award  the  printing  to  the  Democratic  Free 
Press.  To  avert  such  a  contingency,  Chandler  called 
a  special  meeting  of  the  Council  and  chose  a  day  when 
seven  of  the  eight  Democratic  aldermen  were  attending 
a  convention  at  Dearborn.  The  Council  having  con 
vened,  the  printing  contract  was  awarded  to  the 
Advertiser.  This  action  was  the  subject  of  a  long  con 
troversy.  The  Tribune  felt  aggrieved  that  its  rival 
had  secured  the  "plum."  The  Free  Press  took  every 
opportunity  of  sowing  dissension  among  the  Whigs  by 
championing  the  cause  of  the  Tribune.  Finally  the 
Council  passed  a  resolution  requesting  the  Advertiser 
to  surrender  its  contract  and  allow  proposals  for  the 
city  printing  to  be  received.  The  Advertiser  im 
mediately  replied,  offering  to  surrender  its  contract 
on  the  appointment  of  its  successor  and  to  print  all 
Council  proceedings  free  for  the  remainder  of  the  year. 
Here  the  matter  dropped.  The  Advertiser  continued 
to  do  the  printing  and  was  well  paid  for  doing  it. 

As  Mayor,  Mr.  Chandler  was  often  called  upon  to 
welcome  distinguished  strangers  to  the  city.  No 
visitor  was  more  certain  to  arouse  enthusiasm  'in 
Detroit  in  1851  than  one  who  had  fought  on  the  side 
of  the  Revolutionists  in  Europe  in  1848.  Liberty 
was  a  word  to  conjure  with  and  Louis  Kossuth  and 
Dr.  Kinkel  were  its  prophets.  Kossuth,  though  the 
streets  of  Detroit  were  not  lacking  in  young  men 
wearing  the  Kossuth  hat  and  feather,  did  not  accept 


12  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

Mayor  Chandler's  invitation  to  visit  the  city.  Dr. 
Gottfried  Kinkel,  however,  a  German  scientist  who 
took  part  in  the  Revolution  of  1848,  came  to  Detroit 
in  November,  1851,  and  was  given  a  rousing  reception. 
He  appeared  upon  the  balcony  of  the  Biddle  House 
accompanied  by  the  Mayor  and  prominent  citizens, 
and  to  quote  the  Detroit  Advertiser,  "Amid  the  joyous 
shouts  of  an  admiring  multitude,  a  large  number  of 
our  ladies  (God  bless  them)  surrounded  him  with  their 
smiles  and  wished  him  God-speed  in  his  glorious 
undertaking."9  The  address  of  Mr.  Chandler  upon 
this  occasion  is  of  interest  today  because  it  mirrors 
the  mind  of  the  man  of  sixty  years  ago  who  saw  in  the 
United  States  the  land  of  Freedom,  whose  mission  it 
was  to  guide  the  world  to  the  goal  of  Liberty.  In 
speaking  of  the  failure  of  the  Revolution  of  1848  Mr. 
Chandler  saidf 

"The  flame  of  Liberty  may  be  smothered  for  a 
moment  but  it  will  break  out  with  ten-fold  fury  at  no 
distant  day.  The  people  have  learned  their  rights 
and,  knowing,  dare  maintain  them .  .  .  The  decree  will 
have  gone  forth  and  will  be  irrevocable.  Kings, 
Dukes  and  Emporers  'By  the  Will  of  God'  must  give 
place  to  Presidents,  Senators  and  Governors  'By  the 
Will  of  the  People.'  Then  will  those  time-honored 
fabrics  of  Despotism  fall,  like  tottering  walls  before 
the  hurricane.  When  this  struggle  shall  come,  and 
come  it  must  soon,  America  will  not  be  an  idle  spectator 
of  the  conflict.  .  .Gentlemen,  our  country  has  a 
glorious  destiny  to  fulfill.  At  present  she  is  a  beacon 
to  the  oppressed  of  every  clime.  To  us  they  turn  as 

9.    Advertiser,  November  26,  1851. 


' 


.  8£ 


MAKGAKET   (ORR)    CHANDLER 

Mother  of  Zachariah  Chandler.    From  a  photograph  by  D.  O.  Furnald, 
of  Manchester,  N.  H. 


MAYOR  OF  DETROIT  13 

to  the  Star  of  Hope .  .  .  With  us  they  find  hope.  What 
has  been  done  can  be  done  again.  Impossible  is  a 
word  almost  stricken  from  our  vocabulary.  Obstacles 
do  not  discourage  us.  Difficulties  but  add  fresh  vigor 
to  our  effort." 

Mr.  Chandler's  term  of  office  expired  in  March,, 
1852.  The  Whigs  praised  his  administration;  the 
Democrats  censured  it.  He  fulfilled  the  duties  of 
the  office  creditably,  his  administration  being  particu 
larly  successful  in  caring  for  city  improvements  and 
finance. 


CHAPTER  II 
CANDIDATE  FOR  GOVERNOR  OF  MICHIGAN 

July  1,  1852,  the  Whig  state  convention,1 
being  assembled  at  Marshall,  nominated  Mr. 
Chandler  for  Governor  of  Michigan.  On  the  first 
ballot,  an  informal  one,  Mr.  Chandler  received  76  out 
of  88  votes.  On  the  next,  a  formal  ballot,  he  re 
ceived  95  out  of  99.  Mr.  Chandler  was  not  present 
at  the  convention,  but  William  A.  Howard,  Chairman 
of  the  Whig  State  Central  Committee,  said  that  he 
had  seen  Mr.  Chandler  before  leaving  Detroit  and  that 
Mr.  Chandler  had  said  "he  was  not  a  candidate  for 
any  of  the  offices  under  consideration;  that  he  pre 
ferred  working  in  the  ranks,  but  should  the  con 
vention  see  fit  to  nominate  him  he  was  with  them."2 

The  Democrats  nominated  Robert  McClelland  of 
Monroe.  Mr.  McClelland  at  this  time  occupied  the 
gubernatorial  chair.  He  was  a  lawyer  by  profession 
and  had  served  both  in  the  State  Legislature  and  in 
the  lower  house  of  Congress.  He  was  very  popular 
and  had  a  ready  laugh  which  caused  his  opponents  to 
say  that. "he  laughed  himself  into  office."2 

The  political  campaign  in  Michigan  in  1852,  how 
ever,  was  fought  on  national  party  lines.  If  the 
Whigs  could  convince  the  majority  of  the  voters  of 

1.  Advertiser,  July  3,  1852. 

2.  Article  by  Isaac  P.  Christiancy  in  History  of  Monroe  County, 

p.  245. 


CANDIDATE  FOR  GOVERNOR  15 

Michigan  that  General  Scott  should  be  the  next 
President  of  the  United  States,  then  Mr.  Chandler 
and  not  Mr.  McClelland  would  be  the  next  Governor 
of  Michigan.  Most  men  vote  straight  tickets.  The 
Presidential  contest  being  regarded  as  of  paramount 
importance,  local  contests  are  usually  decided  by 
national  parties  fighting  for  national  issues  or  perhaps 
for  the  control  of  the  national  administration.  It  is 
true  that  the  local  interests  suffer,  but  that  is  the  fault 
of  our  party  system.  When  national  issues  are 
represented  by  national  parties,  state  issues  by  state 
parties,  and  county  and  town  and  city  issues  by 
county  and  town  and  city  parties,  our  whole  party 
system  will  have  been  revolutionized.  Hence  it  was 
that  in  Michigan  in  1852  the  campaign  was  one  be 
tween  national  parties  headed  by  Scott  and  Pierce, 
rather  than  state  parties  headed  by  Chandler  and 
McClelland.  The  situation  becomes  even  more  sig 
nificant  from  the  fact  that  there  were  no  national 
issues  which  distinguished  clearly  the  Democrats  from 
the  Whigs.  Both  acquiesced  in  the  Compromise  of 
1850,  including  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  The  Free 
Soilers  alone  took  a  firm  stand  against  the  extension 
of  slavery  but  their  numbers  were  few;3  the  majority 
of  the  people  still  clung  to  the  old  parties. 

The  lack  of  vital  national  issues  separating  the  two 
great  parties  resulted  in  a  campaign  of  trivialities, 
personalities,  appeals  to  prejudice,  and  canards.  The 
amount  of  abuse  bestowed  upon  candidates  for  office 
when  Mr.  Chandler  entered  politics  must  have  deterred 

3.    I.   P.  Christiancy,   their  candidate  for  Governor,   polled 
5850  votes  (Michigan  Manual). 


16  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

many  worthy  men  from  public  life.  No  sooner  was 
Mr.  Chandler's  nomination  known  in  Detroit  than  the 
Free  Press  referred  to  him  as  a  "  whiskey  bloat."  On 
September  27  the  same  paper  stated  at  the  head  of  an 
editorial  that  it  proposed  to  "clip  Mr.  Chandler's  ears 
a  little"  and  went  on  to  say,  "There  is  probably  not  a 
more  reckless  calumniator  within  the  borders  of 
Michigan  than  the  Whig  nominee  for  Governor, 
Zachariah  Chandler."  General  Scott  was  dubbed 
"Fuss  and  Feathers,"  "Old  Peacock,"  "White  Feather 
Chieftain,"  while  Pierce  was  stigmatized  by  the  Whigs 
as  a  "fainting  general"  and  "Candy -man."  "Scott 
Soup  and  Graham  Bread"  was  a  familiar  way  of 
speaking  of  the  Whig  nominees.  On  October  14,  the 
Detroit  Advertiser  spoke  of  Pierce  as  "the  puny, 
shiftless  and  dwarfish  abortion  of  a  statesman" — and 
the  Advertiser  was  perhaps  less  given  to  calling  hard 
names  than  any  of  its  Detroit  contemporaries.  The 
German  vote  was  appealed  to  by  the  Democrats  on 
the  allegation  that  "Gen.  Scott  had  tied  to  a  tree  and 
flogged  fifteen  Germans  in  Mexico."  The  "Sons  of 
the  Green  Isle"  were  told  that  Pierce  was  opposed  to 
religious  freedom.  The  Democratic  press  tried  to 
arouse  prejudice  against  Mr.  Chandler  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  wealthy,  and  the  "Nashua  Letter"4  pur 
porting  to  have  been  written  by  a  resident  of  Nashua, 
New  Hampshire,  declared  that  Mr.  Chandler  had 
publicly  boasted  that  he  had  money  enough  to  carry 
Michigan  for  the  Whigs.  Sectional  feeling  was  ap 
pealed  to.  The  Whigs  declared5  that  Pierce  was  "the 

4.  Pontiac  Gazette,  Sept.  11,  1852. 

5.  Advertiser,  June  12,  1852. 


JOHN  OKR 

Of  Bedford,  N.  H.  Father  of  Margaret  (Orr) 
silhouette  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Eugene 
Maine. 


Chandler.      From    a 
Hale,    of    Ellsworth, 


CANDIDATE  FOR  GOVERNOR  17 

boasted  favorite  of  the  South .  .  .  the  South  whose 
jealousy  has  long  been  directed  to  the  growth  of  the 
Western  States."  Referring  to  the  fact  that  the 
Michigan  favorite  and  real  .leader  of  the  Democratic 
party,  General  Cass,  had  not  received  the  nomination 
for  President  by  the  Democratic  convention,  the 
Whigs  derisively  asked,  "Will  they  submit?  Can  they 
be  led  by  the  nose?"  Pierce,  according  to  the  Whigs, 
was  the  favorite  of  the  Rothschilds,  and  they  declared 
that  "The  Dungeon-Keepers  of  Austria  shout  for 
Pierce." 

Mr.  Chandler  was  a  most  indefatigable  campaigner. 
He  spoke  in  some  thirty  towns  in  the  southern  half  of 
the  Lower  Peninsula.  He  always  spoke  in  behalf  of 
General  Scott  and  the  Whig  ticket,  but  he  also  injected 
into  his  arguments  a  local  issue.  He  produced  figures 
purporting  to  prove  extravagance  and  corruption  in 
the  Democratic  State  regime.  He  declared,6  for  ex 
ample,  that  by  connivance  between  the  Auditor- 
General  and  the  State  Printer,  the  State  lost  thousands 
of  dollars  annually  on  printing  contracts.  But  his 
success  after  all  depended  upon  the  success  of  General 
Scott  in  the  campaign  for  the  Presidency. 

The  Whigs  attempted  to  make  internal  improve 
ments  an  issue.  They  well  knew  that  Michigan,  with 
her  long  shore-line,  desired  federal  aid  in  improving 
harbors  and  lakes.  They  pointed  to  the  fact  that 
Pierce  had  in  1841  voted  against  a  bill  appropriating 
land  in  aid  of  the  construction  of  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie 
Canal.  The  Democrats,  desiring  above  all  things  to 
please  everybody,  told  Michigan  voters  that  Pierce 

6.    Advertiser,  Oct.  7,  1852. 
3 


18  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

favored  internal  improvements  and  they  told  Southern 
voters  that  he  opposed  them.  The  tariff  received 
some  attention  and  the  Democrats  continued  to  wax 
eloquent  over  the  evils  of  the  defunct  United  States 
Bank. 

Party  lines  in  those  days  were  closely  drawn.  There 
was  such  a  thing  as  a  party  loyalty  which  was  entirely 
independent  of  the  hope  of  personal  reward.  There 
was  an  interest  in  politics  which  cannot  be  equalled 
today  by  the  interest  in  any  one  thing — not  even 
base  ball.  Devotion  to  party  resulted  in  a  real  hos 
tility  to  the  opposing  party.  A  campaign  was  a  battle 
with  the  enemy.  "Stand  firm,  Whigs.  .  .Keep  cool — 
don't  fire  till  you  see  the  white  of  a  Loco  Foco  eye — 
take  a  steady  aim,  and  if  the  old  Scott  Rifles  do  not 
fetch  them,  then  Gen.  Scott  is  no  marksman."7 

Since  the  Whigs  had  no  vital  argument  to  attract 
Democratic  votes  or  compel  men  to  remain  at  home 
on  election  day,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  strongly 
Democratic  State  of  Michigan  remained  Democratic 
in  the  election  of  1852.  The  defeat  of  the  Whigs 
cannot  be  ascribed  to  the  Free  Soilers,  for  the  Demo 
crats  had  a  majority  over  the  combined  Whig  and 
Free  Soil  vote.8  Mr.  Chandler  received  some  800 
votes  more  than  General  Scott  and  300  more  than  the 
next  highest  Whig  candidate  for  a  State  office.  The 
Democrats  in  1852  could  say  as  in  1851, 9 

7.  Pontiac  Gazette,  October  30,  1852. 

8.  Tribune  Almanac,  1853,  Scott         33859 

Hale  7237    41096 

Pierce  41842 

9.  Free  Press,  September  18,  1851. 


JOHN  ORR 

Of  Bedford,  N.  H.    Father  of  Margaret  (Orr)  Chandler.    From  a  minia 
ture  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Eugene  Hale,  of  Ellsworth,  Maine. 


CANDIDATE  FOR  GOVERNOR  19 

"We  are  annually  honored  with  plaudits  of  victory, 
when  in  truth  it  is  but  the  recurrence  of  the  'Glorious 
Summer'  of  Democracy  with  its  promises  and  its 
prosperity  certain  and  unmistakable.  In  Michigan, 
Whiggery  scatters  its  seed  over  a  barren  soil;  just 
enough  is  reclaimed  with  each  returning  season  to 
'commence  anew'  and  we  now  write  their  epitaph 
for  the  closing  scene,  1851:  'What  shadows  we  are 
and  what  shadows  we  pursue.' 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY  IN 
MICHIGAN 

OO  far  at  least  as  Michigan  was  concerned,  it 
^  cannot  be  said  that  the  Whig  party  "died  of  an 
attempt  to  swallow  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law."  In 
18521  the  Whigs  in  Michigan  polled  33,860  votes;  the 
Free  Soilers,  7,237;  and  the  Democrats,  41,842.  In 
1848  Taylor  had  received  23,947  votes;  Van  Buren, 
10,393;  and  Cass,  30,742.  In  the  four  years  between 
1848  and  1852,  then,  the  Whigs  had  gained  9,913 
votes,  the  Democrats  11,100.  Figures  for  the  in 
crease  in  population  during  this  period  are  not  avail 
able,  but  the  fact  that  the  Whigs  more  than  held  their 
own  in  spite  of  their  acquiescence  in  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  is  unimpeachable. 

Neither  can  it  be  successfully  maintained  that  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  bill  killed  the  Whig  party  in  Michi 
gan.  It  was  the  occasion,  not  the  cause  of  its  dis 
solution.  This  bill  was  a  Democratic  measure  carried 
by  Democratic  votes.  It  passed  the  House  on  the 
night  of  May  22,  1854.  The  majority2  was  composed 
of  101  Democrats,  Northern  and  Southern,  and  12 
Southern  Whigs.  The  minority  comprised  42  Northern 
Democrats,  2  Southern  Democrats,  45  Northern  and 
7  Southern  Whigs,  and  4  Free  Democrats.  The  Senate 

1.  Michigan  Manual.     (Presidential  vote). 

2.  T.  C.  Smith,  Parties  and  Slavery,  p.  107. 


ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER 

From  a  photograph  by  Brady,  Washington  and  New  York. 


FORMATION   OF  REPUBLICAN    PARTY  21 

concurred  35  to  12.  Not  a  Northern  Whig  in  the 
House  voted  for  the  bill.  The  great  mass  of  the 
Whigs  of  the  North  denounced  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise. 

The  dissolution  of  the  Whig  party  in  Michigan  was 
a  psychological  phenomenon.  The  issue  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill  resulted  in  a  most  remarkable  outbreak 
of  antislavery  sentiment,  which  expressed  itself  in 
massmeetings  throughout  the  State.  Such  a  meeting3 
was  held  at  Detroit,  on  February  18,  1854.  Mr. 
Chandler  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the  call  and  one  of 
the  speakers  who  addressed  the  meeting.  The  Whig 
party  could  have  taken  advantage  of  the  situation  and 
added  to  its  ranks  the  various  elements  of  opposition 
to  slavery,  but  some  of  the  most  influential  leaders 
refused  longer  to  stand  by  the  old  Whig  name  and 
organization  and  demanded  that  a  new  party  based  on 
opposition  to  the  further  extension  of  slavery  be 
formed.  The  men  who  advocated  this  course  were 
temperamentally  radicals.  Their  number  included 
Zachariah  Chandler;  Joseph  Warren,  whose  newspaper, 
the  Detroit  Tribune,  was  a  powerful  factor  in  making 
sentiment  among  Michigan  Whigs  favorable  to  the 
radical  position;  and  Horace  Greeley  who,  through  the 
columns  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  a  journal  widely 
read  in  the  Northwest,  urged  the  formation  of  a  new 
party.  Conservative  Whigs,  not  less  opposed  to 
slavery  than  the  radicals,  pleaded  for  the  old  Whig 
party.  Their  position  was  ably  defended  by  the 
oldest  Whig  newspaper  in  Detroit,  the  Advertiser. 
The  Conservatives  pointed  to  the  ties  of  sentiment 

3.    Advertiser,  February  16  and  21,  1854. 


22  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

and  interest  that  bound  men  to  the  old  party.  The 
Whig  party  had  an  organization  of  experienced  and 
loyal  workers;  newspapers  of  influence  and  wide  cir 
culation  were  devoted  to  its  cause.  The  Whig  party 
had  traditions  and  could  influence  the  ardor  of  its 
adherents  by  eulogizing  former  leaders — Webster,  Clay, 
and  Adams.  The  Whig  party  according  to  the  Con 
servatives  had  lost  the  election  in  1852  because  it  had 
evaded  the  slavery  issue;  by  taking  a  firm  stand  on 
the  issue  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  the  Whigs  could 
now  restore  their  party  to  power. 

If  the  Whig  party  had  adopted  this  course,  stood 
firm  on  the  issue  of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouii  Com 
promise,  and  refused  to  give  up  its  name  and  its  or 
ganization,  it  seems  certain  that  the  Whig  and  not 
the  Republican  party  would  have  secured  the  support 
of  the  antislavery  elements  and  would  have  occupied 
the  place  that  the  Republican  party  does  today. 

We  repeat,  the  dissolution  of  the  Whig  party  in 
Michigan  was  a  psychological  phenomenon.  The  Whig 
party,  standing  firm  on  an  antislavery  extension  plat 
form,  would  have  secured  the  support  of  the  minor 
parties — Free  Soilers  and  Free  Democrats.  The  radi 
cal  Whigs  could  have  controlled  the  Whig  party,4  but 
because  they  were  temperamentally  radical  they  pre 
ferred  to  do  the  more  radical  thing,  which  was  to  bolt 
the  Whig  organization  and  form  a  new  party  composed 
of  all  the  antislavery  elements. 

4.  This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  their  bolt  was  a  deathblow 
to  the  party  and  by  the  fact  that  in  the  Whig  State  Con 
vention,  which  was  called  at  the  instance  of  conservative 
Whigs,  the  radicals  were  in  control  and  prevented  nomi 
nations  from  being  made. 


FORMATION  OF  REPUBLICAN   PARTY  23 

Arguments  to  support  the  position  of  the  radicals 
are  not  lacking;  they  were  no  doubt  tired  of  being  de 
feated  at  the  polls.  Political  parties  exist  to  get  con 
trol  of  the  government.  As  Whigs,  the  Whig  party 
had  failed.  The  Democrats  were  traditionally  the 
party  of  the  "  common  people."  The  Whigs  were  de 
rided  as  "aristocrats,"  and  as  such  were  regarded  with 
hostility  by  the  Democrats.  Under  a  new  name  the 
Whigs  would  have  less  difficulty  in  gaining  the  support 
of  antislavery  Democrats.  As  Whigs,  they  had  failed 
to  win  the  foreign  vote.  "Whig"  meant  nothing  to 
a  foreigner;  "Democrat"  meant  much.  Most  ftewly 
arrived  immigrants  believed  that  nothing  bearing  the 
name  of  Democracy  could  be  wrong,  so  they  joined 
the  Democratic  party.  The  Whig  party  too  was  be 
lieved  to  be  inclined  towards  "  know-nothingism ;"  and 
so  the  Catholics,  following  the  agitation  of  1853,  looked 
upon  the  Whigs  as  enemies  of  the  Church.  "Old 
names  being  cast  aside,  bitter  and  unlovely  associa 
tions  would  be  cast  aside  with  them,"  argued  the 
radical  Whigs. 

The  Free-Soilers  were  extending  the  olive  branch. 
As  early  as  February  22,  1854,  the  Free  Democrats5 
had  held  a  convention  at  Jackson  and  nominated  a 
ticket,  headed  by  the  name  of  Kinsley  S.  Bingham  for 
Governor.  The  Nebraska  bill  was  passed  on  May  22. 
On  the  following  day6  there  was  a  conference  in  De 
troit  between  leaders  of  the  Free  Soil  and  Whig  parties. 
Mr.  Chandler  was  present.  An  agreement  was  made 
which  was  faithfully  carried  out.  The  Free  Soilers 

5.  Detroit  Daily  Democrat,  Feb.  23,  1854. 

6.  Jackson  Citizen  Press,  June  3,  1910. 


24  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

met  in  Convention  in  Kalamazoo,7  declared  them 
selves  ready  to  dissolve  as  a  distinctive  organization, 
and  to  withdraw  the  ticket  which  they  had  nominated 
in  February  in  case  a  convention,  irrespective  of  any 
existing  political  party  and  animated  by  antislavery 
sentiments,  should  meet  to  give  effect  to  such  prin 
ciples  as  were  represented  by  the  Free  Soil  party.  A 
Committee  of  16  was  appointed  to  carry  this  design 
into  execution. 

The  Republican  party  of  Michigan  was  founded  at 
Jackson,  Michigan,  July  6,  1854.  Mr.  Chandler,  one 
of  the  leading  radical  Whigs,  was  present.  He  had 
signed  the  call  and  actively  urged  the  calling  of  such 
a  mass  convention  of  all  the  opponents  of  slavery. 
The  day  was  fine.  Delegations  began  to  arrive  on 
the  fifth,  among  them  a  party  of  twenty  from  the 
Saginaw  Valley  who  had  come  all  the  way,  over  a 
hundred  miles,  on  horseback.8  No  hall  in  the  town 
was  capable  of  containing  the  persons  desirous  of  being 
present,  so  the  Convention  adjourned  to  a  grove  of 
oaks  adjacent  to  the  village;  a  stone  marks  the  spot 
today,  though  the  oaks  have  nearly  all  disappeared 
and  the  City  has  grown  far  beyond  the  site. 

A  Committee  on  Resolutions  was  appointed  and 
while  it  was  deliberating  the  meeting  was  addressed 
by  Kinsley  S.  Bingham  and  Zachariah.  Chandler.9 
The  Jackson  Citizen,  giving  a  synopsis  of  Mr.  Chand 
ler's  speech  said, 

"When  in  the  course  of  his  speech  he  gave  a  brief 

7.  Detroit  Daily  Democrat,  June  22  and  23,  1854. 

8.  DeLand,  History  of  Jackson  County,  p.  174. 

9.  Ibid.,  0.171. 


FORMATION  OF  REPUBLICAN   PARTY  25 

history  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso  in  Michigan,  he  alluded 
to  the  anti-slavery  resolutions  passed  by  the  Derno- 
ciatic  State  Convention,  in  1849,  and  the  resolution 
of  instruction  to  the  Senators  and  Representatives  in 
Congress,  by  the  State  legislature  on  the  same  subject, 
and  then  exclaimed  that  not  one  of  the  Representatives 
had  ever  been  honest  to  carry  them  out  except  Kinsley 
S.  Bingham,  a  spark  of  enthusiasm  fired  the  crowd, 
shouts  of  approbation  rang  through  the  vast  assemblage 
and  if  any  doubt  had  previously  existed  as  to  who 
should  be  the  man  for  Governor  that  doubt  was  re 
moved." 

The  Committee  on  Nominations  represented  all  the 
old  parties  present  at  the  Convention.  The  slate 
proposed  and  later  adopted  by  the  Convention  was 
headed  by  Kinsley  S.  Bingham,  formerly  a  Democrat, 
later  a  Free  Soiler  and  now  a  Republican.  The 
nominee  for  Lieutenant -Governor  had  been  a  Whig; 
and  the  other  nominations  were  carefully  apportioned 
among  the  old  parties. 

Mr.  Chandler's  name  was  not  on  the  slate.  His 
reward  for  activity  in  the  formation  of  the  new  party 
was  to  come  later.  It  was  the  intention  of  the  con 
vention  that  he  should  succeed  General  Cass  in  the 
United  States  Senate.  This  fact  is  not  to  be  sub 
stantiated,  perhaps,  by  documentary  evidence  of  a 
"deal,"  but  it  is  an  almost  inevitable  conclusion  from 
the  circumstances  of  the  case.  The  Jackson  Citizen,™ 
in  allusion  to  the  influences  which  produced  the  nomi 
nation  of  Kinsley  S.  Bingham  for  Governor  said,  "No 
man  did  more  to  accomplish  the  result  than  Mr. 

10.     Free  Press,  July  16,  1854,  quoting  Citizen. 


26  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

Chandler,  who  had  many  friends  himself  in  the  con 
vention  for  that  office."  We  have  already  noted  that 
Mr.  Chandler  referred  in  complimentary  terms  to  Mr. 
Bingham  in  his  speech  at  Jackson.  If  the  highest 
office  in  the  State  was  to  be  given  to  a  Free-Soil  Demo 
crat,  the  Senatorship  belonged  to  a  Whig.  It  is  true 
that  the  Republicans  denied  any  attempt  to  apportion 
the  offices  among  the  members  of  the  old  parties. 
They  claimed  to  be  influenced  only  by  a  desire  to 
choose  the  best  man.  But  it  is  equally  true  that  if 
there  had  not  been  a  fair  division  there  would  have 
been  no  fusion.  For  years  after  the  formation  of  the 
Republican  party  the  old  suspicion  between  former 
members  of  opposing  parties  remained.  It  was  diffi 
cult  for  a  former  Whig  to  vote  for  a  former  Democrat, 
though  both  called  themselves  Republicans. 

Mr.  Chandler's  canvass  for  Governor,  his  activity 
in  the  formation  of  the  new  party,  his  speech  at  the 
Jackson  Convention,  his  work  in  the  interest  of  Bing 
ham  for  Governor,  all  demanded  their  reward. 
Whether  there  was  a  formal  agreement  or  a  tacit 
understanding  between  Mr.  Bingham  and  Mr.  Chand 
ler  I  do  not  know,  but  the  correspondent  of  the  Detroit 
Free  Press  wrote11  from  Jackson  on  the  day  of  the  Con 
vention,  "It  is  said  here  that  Bingham's  getting  the 
nomination  for  Governor  has  made  Chandler's  nomi 
nation  for  Congress  a  certain  thing." 

The  Conservative  Whigs  who  opposed  fusion,  made 
a  demand12  through  the  Detroit  Advertiser  upon  the 
Whig  State  Central  Committee  that  a  Whig  State 

11.  Free  Press,  July  9,  1854. 

12.  Advertiser,  August  21,  1854. 


KINSLEY  S.  BINGHAM 
Prom  the  oil  portrait  in  the  Capitol,  Lansing. 


FORMATION  OF  REPUBLICAN   PARTY  27 

Convention  be  called.  The  Convention  met  at  Mar 
shall  on  October  4,  but  being  in  the  hands  of  the 
radicals  it  adjourned  without  making  nominations. 
The  Conservative  Whigs  had  to  content  themselves 
with  making  Congressional,  legislative  and  county 
nominations  in  localities  where  they  could  find  Con 
servative  Whigs  to  act. 

The  Republicans  perfected  their  State  and  local 
organizations  as  rapidly  as  possible.  Petitions  were 
circulated  by  the  friends  of  freedom  in  many  of  the 
local  governmental  units  calling  for  town,  county  and 
legislative  district  mass  conventions.  In  some  cases 
the  town  mass  conventions  elected  delegates  to  a 
county  convention;  in  others,  the  county  and  legis 
lative  district  conventions  were  real  democratic  gather 
ings  of  freemen,  meeting  in  mass  convention  to  draw 
up  anti-Nebraska  resolutions,  nominate  candidates  for 
local  offices,  elect  delegates  to  the  convention  of  the 
larger  units,  and  appoint  officers  and  committees  for 
the  unit  represented  at  the  meeting.  There  were  no 
regular  party  officers  to  call  such  conventions  and  the 
work  of  circulating  petitions  was  taken  up  by  any  man 
or  group  of  men  who  cared  to  advance  in  this  way  the 
organization  of  the  new  party.  No  better  example  of 
the  ability  of  the  American  people  to  organize  them 
selves  into  effective  political  machines  can  be  found 
than  in  this  organization  of  the  Republican  party  in 
Michigan  during  the  months  following  the  Jackson 
Convention.  Late  in  August  the  Republican  State 
Committee  stimulated  the  movement  by  issuing  a 
call  urging  the  electors  to  circulate  petitions  and  meet 
in  local  mass  conventions,  but  the  work  was  under 


28  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

way  in  some  localities  before  this  call  was  made.  To 
some  extent  at  least  the  movement  was  local,  popular 
and  seemingly  spontaneous. 

The  result  of  the  election  in  Michigan  in  1854  was 
the  complete  triumph  of  the  fusion  ticket.  Bingham 
received  43,652  votes  for  Governor;  Barry,  the  Demo 
cratic  nominee,  received  38,095. 

In  spite  of  the  increased  population,  the  total  vote 
for  Governor  was  almost  1,000  votes  smaller  in  1854 
than  in  1852.  This  is  to  be  accounted  for  partly  by 
the  disaffection  of  Conservative  Whigs,  and  partly 
by  the  fact  that  1852  was  a  Presidential  year.  The 
ascendency  gained  by  the  Republican  party  in  Michi 
gan  in  1854  has  been  retained  from  that  day  to  this. 
The  outgoing  Governor  was  the  last  Democrat  to  oc 
cupy  the  gubernatorial  chair,  until  1882  when  Begole 
was  elected  by  the  Fusionists.13 

The  action  of  the  radical  Whigs  in  deserting  the 
Whig  for  the  Republican  party  alienated  for  a  time 
the  conservative  element  of  the  old  party.  The  lead 
ing  conservative  Whig  organ,  the  Detroit  Advertiser, 
early  in  1855  began  to  advocate  the  principles  of  the 
Know  Nothing  party,  but  in  the  summer  of  that  year 
it  joined  the  Republicans.  No  doubt  many  conser 
vatives  finally  reached  the  new  party  by  the  same 
roundabout  route.  A  number  of  Conservative  Whigs,14 
however,  as  late  as  August  16,  1856,  called  upon 
members  of  the  old  party  to  vote  for  Buchanan  to 
"preserve  the  independent  existence  of  the  Whig 

13.  Since  1882,  the  Governors  have  been  Republican  with  the 

exception  of  Winans,   Democrat,   elected  in   1890   and 
Ferris,  Democrat,  elected  in  1912  and  again  in  1914. 

14.  Free  Press,  August  23,  1856. 


FORMATION  OF  REPUBLICAN   PARTY  29 

party."  The  real  democracy  of  the  movement  which 
resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party  is 
noteworthy.  The  Democratic  party,  the  defender  of 
the  aristocratic  social  and  political  system  of  the 
South,  had  itself  become  aristocratic.  The  Whig 
party,  traditionally  the  party  of  the  aristocrats,  had 
come  to  stand  for  the  more  democratic  policy  of  op 
position  to  the  extension  of  the  aristocratic  system  of 
the  South.  But  the  Republican  party  movement  was 
an  appeal  to  the  people  to  join,  irrespective  of  ancient 
party  affiliations,  in  a  common  effort  to  preserve  the 
democratic  institutions  of  this  country  and  to  place 
a  limit  upon  the  encroachments  of  the  aristocracy  of 
the  South.  The  struggle  between  the  Republicans 
and  the  Democrats  was  fundamentally  a  struggle  be 
tween  democracy  and  aristocracy.  The  parties  were 
no  longer  fighting  for  merely  temporary  objects. 
They  represented  the  democracy  of  America  in  a  life 
and  death  struggle  with  the  aristocracy  of  America. 
It  was  Democracy  against  Despotism;  Liberty  against 
Slavery;  the  manufacturing  and  trading  spirit  of  the 
North  against  the  agricultural  aristocracy  of  the 
South — an  antagonism  which  lay  in  the  nature  of 
things.15 

15.     Buckle,  History  of  Civilization,  II,  245. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  BASIS  OF  MICHIGAN  POLITICS 

the  antislavery  sentiment  of  Michigan  ex- 
pressed  itself  in  the  formation  of  the  Republican 
party  rather  than  enrolled  under  the  banner  of  the 
Whigs  is  perhaps  a  matter  of  no  great  moment.  A 
political  party  in  the  face  of  a  great  crisis  is  a  means 
and  not  an  end.  It  furnishes  the  organization  without 
which  sentiment  and  convictions  are  futile  to  ac 
complish  political  ends.  Michigan  was  antislavery 
and  was  bound  to  express  itself  through  the  agency 
of  a  political  party  devoted  to  the  cause  of  freedom 
in  the  Territories. 

Love  of  freedom  was  inherent  in  the  people  of 
Michigan.  They  iived  in  the  North,  where  slavery 
was  unknown.  They  lived  in  the  West,  where  honest 
toil  was  not  despised.  They  resented  the  distinction 
between  employer  and  employed,  master  and  servant 
black  or  white,  which  was  characteristic  of  the  slavery 
system.  They  read  the  story  of  Keating,  the  Irish 
waiter,  who  was  shot  in  a  Washington  hotel  by  Her 
bert,  a  member  of  Congress  from  California,  formerly 
of  South  Carolina,  for  refusing  to  serve  a  meal  after 
hours  and  failing  to  show  that  deference  which  the 
Southerner  demanded  of  a  servant,  white  or  black. 
They  asked  themselves  whether  a  system  which  pro 
duced  such  insolence  should  be  extended  to  the  Far 
West — the  Far  West  where  the  people  of  the  North 


BASIS   OF   MICHIGAN   POLITICS  31 

were  wont  to  picture  ''the  future  homes  of  an  ad 
vancing  and  splendid  civilization."  Introduce  slavery 
into  those  fertile  regions  and  "the  vision  of  peaceful 
groups  of  free  laborers"  would  be  changed  into  the 
"  contemplation  of  black  gangs  of  slaves."1  Slavery 
stood  for  aristocracy,  both  social  and  political ;  freedom 
meant  democracy.  The  South  as  well  as  the  North 
desired  to  extend  its  own  peculiar  type  of  civilization, 
and  this  propagandist  spirit  was  especially  character 
istic  of  the  Northwest.  Enjoying,  themselves,  the 
blessings  of  freedom,  the  peoples  of  the  Northwest 
desired  to  extend  a  like  boon  to  the  future  population 
of  the  western  Territories.  They  had  sympathized 
with  the  oppressed  of  Europe,  and  they  now  saw  the 
inconsistency  of  pointing  to  the  tyranny  of  Russia 
and  Austria  while  the  slaveocracy  was  extending  its 
power  and  influence  in  their  own  land.  Politically, 
the  question  was  whether  "  intelligence  or  property 
should  rule;"  socially,  it  was  whether  the  laborer 
should  be  slave  or  free. 

The  great  bulk  of  the  people  of  Michigan  were 
farmers.  Throughout  the  southern  half  of  the  Lower 
Peninsula  the  hardy  and  aggressive  emigrants  from 
New  York  and  New  England  were  engaged  in  agri 
culture.  The  small  but  thriving  villages  scattered 
here  and  there  were  recruited  from  the  same  stock  and 
dominated  by  the  same  sentiments  as  their  rural 
neighbors.  This  population  was  filled  with  the  spirit 
of  liberty,  and  love  for  free  institutions.  It  was  here 
that  the  antislavery  sentiment  was  strongest,  and  that 

1.     Article  in  Putnam's,  September,  1854,  "Our  Parties  and 
Politics." 


32  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

the  strength  of  the  Republican  party  lay;  and  it  was 
in  the  northwestern  part  of  this  agricultural  area  that 
the  largest  Republican  majorities  were  given.  In  1856 
Manistee,2  a  new  county,  populated  by  hardy  pioneers 
and  lumbermen,  unvisited  by  stump  speakers  and 
without  efficient  mail  service,  gave  13  votes  for  Buch 
anan  and  185  for  Fremont — none  for  Fillmore. 

In  general,  however,  the  strength  of  the  Republican 
party  lay  in  the  prosperous  farming  districts  of  the 
central,  southern  and  western  parts  of  the  State.  It 
was  in  these  parts  that  the  weekly  newspaper  was 
most  carefully  read  and  discussed.  The  New  York 
Tribune  was  especially  popular  with'  former  New 
Yorkers.  It  was  estimated3  in  1856  that  35,000  Re 
publican  newspapers  reached  the  firesides  of  the 
farmers  of  this  region  and  that  at  least  10,000  religious 
papers  went  into  the  same  homes. 

Religion  played  an  important  part  in  the  lives  of 
these  agriculturists,  and  the  churches  and  religious 
papers  which  tfyey  supported  were  all  arrayed  on  the 
side  of  freedom.  In  the  Detroit  Tribune  of  December 
8,  1856,  a  writer  after  speaking  of  the  increase  in  the 
number  of  Baptists  in  the  Northwest  quotes  a  com 
plaint  of  the  Detroit  Free  Press  in  regard  to  the  activity 
of  the  Baptist  ministers  in  the  campaign  of  1856, 
saying,  "Most  of  its  pulpits  have  been  converted  into 
political  rostrums  and  its  journals  with  which  we  are 
acquainted,  are  the  vilest  of  political  partisan  sheets." 
General  Cass  speaking  before  a  grand  Democratic 

2.  The  vote  was  not  officially  reported  in  the  Manual.     See 

Advertiser,  Dec.  6,  1856. 

3.  By  the  Advertiser,  July  2,  1856. 


BASIS   OF  MICHIGAN   POLITICS  33 

mass  meeting  at  Kalamazoo  in  September,  1856,  said,4 
11  It  is  a  bad  sign  to  see  clergymen  entering  into  politics. 
This  I  say  in  sorrow.  It  is  their  business  to  distribute 
the  gospel  and  not  Sharpe's  rifles."  The  Sunday- 
school  papers  of  the  Methodists5  contained  stories  of 
Kansas  outrages. 

The  conservative  influences  which  center  in  large 
cities  and  money  centers  were  weak  in  these  regions. 
Capital  was  scarce,  manufacturing  was  in  its  infancy. 
The  poorest  felt  himself  on  an  equality  with  the  best 
and  all  were  equally  engaged  in  exploiting  the  resources 
of  a  new  and  fertile  soil. 

Soil  and  climate,  social  and  industrial  life,  historical 
traditions,  political  interests  and  religious  convictions 
all  combined  to  array  the  Northwest  on  the  side  of 
freedom.  The  people  of  Michigan  were  immigrants 
or  the  descendants  of  immigrants.  The  immigrants 
from  the  older  States  were  the  hardy  off  shoots  from  a 
race  of  immigrants  who  in  years  gone  by  had  in  many 
instances  braved  the  perils  of  the  wilderness  and  the 
privations  of  new  settlements.6  Such  men  possessed 
in  a  degree  never  before  surpassed  the  courage  and 
moral  force  which  fitted  them  to  exert  a  commanding 
influence.  The  West  is  always  radical,  and  in  a 
crisis  such  as  the  slavery  question  which  touched 
their  deepest  sentiments  and  interests  the  people  of 
the  Northwest  were  certain  to  become  a  powerful 
factor  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

No  man  more  truly  represented  this  radical  spirit  of 

4.  Free  Press,  September  7,  1856. 

5.  Free  Press,  July  6,  1856. 

6.  Free  Press,  May  16,  1862,  quoting  N.  Y.  World  of  May  14, 

5 


34  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER 

the  Northwest  than  did  Zachariah  Chandler.     Him 
self  an  immigrant  and  the  descendant  of  immigrants, 
he  was  the  embodiment  of  Michigan  Republicanism. 
He  had  "that  coarseness  and  strength  combined  with 
acuteness  and  inquisitiveness ;  that  practical  inventive 
turn  of  mind,  quick  to  find  expedients;  that  masterful 
grasp  of  material  things,  lacking  in  the  artistic  but 
powerful  to  effect  great  ends;  that  restless  nervous 
energy,  that  dominant  individualism  and  withal  that 
buoyancy  and  exuberance  which  comes  from  freedom  "7 
— traits  of  the  frontier  or  "traits  called  out  elsewhere 
because  of  the  existence  of  the  frontier."     At  a  later 
time  when  he  represented  Michigan  in  the  Senate,  on 
the  problems  of  the  war  and  reconstruction  he  was 
never  behind  and  rarely  too  far  in  advance  of  the 
position   of   his   constituents   to   command   their   en 
thusiastic  support.     His  votes  in  the  Senate  were  al 
most  uniformly  applauded,  and  represented  as  did  his 
speeches  both  in  the  Senate  and  on  the  stump,  not 
only   his    individual    convictions,    but    the    dominant 
sentiment  of  Michigan  Republicanism. 

The  Democratic  party  in  Michigan  found  its  chief 
support  in  the  southeastern  counties  and  in  the  extreme 
northern  counties  of  the  Lower  Peninsula,  and  in  some 
parts  of  the  Upper  Peninsula.  Wayne  County,8  in 
cluding  Detroit,  could  almost  always  be  depended 
upon  for  a  Democratic  majority  and  the  neighboring 
counties  found  the  Democrats  formidable  opponents. 
The  northernmost  counties  of  Emmet  and  Cheboygan 

7.  Turner,  in  Amer.  Hist.  Assn.,  Report,  1893. 

8.  In  1860,  according  to  the  8th  U.  S.  Census,  Vol.  "Pop." 

p.  247,  Wayne  County  contained  44,771  native  born  and 
29,103  foreign  born. 


BASIS   OF   MICHIGAN   POLITICS  35 

were  strongly  Democratic,  as  were  the  neighboring 
counties  in  the  Upper  Peninsula — Mackinac  and 
Chippewa. 

"  Democracy  is  a  name  that  charms,"  and  the  foreign 
element  upon  arriving  in  this  country  usually  allied 
itself  with  the  Democratic  party.  The  Irish  were 
almost  uniformly  Democrats.  They  seemed  to  have 
little  sympathy  with  the  antislavery  extension  agita 
tion.  They  usually  settled  in  cities.  In  Detroit  they 
found  the  Democratic  party  supreme,  and  as  they  are 
a  people  who  take  naturally  to  politics  they  secured 
from  this  party  a  fair  share  of  the  rewards  due  them 
for  their  support.  They  are  a  clannish  race,  and  their 
tendency  to  stick  together  in  the  support  of  any  Irish 
candidate,  their  ability  to  deliver  a  "solid  Irish  vote" 
made  them  an  important  factor  in  politics.  The 
Irish  too  were  Catholics,  and  in  Detroit,  at  least,  the 
leading  Catholic  clergy  were  Democrats,  worked 
through  that  party  to  gain  their  political  ends,9  and 
undoubtedly  exercised  considerable  influence  over  the 
votes  of  their  parishioners. 

The  French  element  was  descended  from  emigrants 
who  had  left  France  a  century  or  more  before.  They 
were  an  humble  folk  for  the  most  part,  many  of  them 
being  small  farmers  along  the  Detroit  River.  They 
seem  to  have  been  almost  entirely  unaffected  by  the 
democratic  movements  of  the  nineteenth  century  and 
to  have  exerted  no  appreciable  influence  on  Michigan 
politics ;  they  were  not  interested  in  the  slavery  -ques- 

9.  The  Catholics  claimed  for  Detroit  a  Catholic  population 
of  20,000  souls  in  a  total  of  60,000.  Tribune,  November 
13,  1856,  quoting  The  Vindicator. 


36  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER 

tion  and  when  they  voted  at  all,  being  Catholics,  they 
generally  voted  the  Democratic  ticket. 

The  Germans,  Democrats  at  first,  soon  allied  them 
selves  in  large  numbers  with  the  Republican10  party. 
They  settled  on  farms  rather  than  in  the  towns.  They 
were  full  of  the  spirit  of  "Liberty  and  Union. "  Most 
of  them  came  to  America  after  the  Revolution  of  1848. 
Their  personal  experiences  with  tyranny  in  the  Father 
land,  and  their  historical  traditions,  caused  them  to 
join  the  party  of  freedom  and  union. 

The  Hollanders11  too,  at  first  Democrats,  were 
naturally  hostile  to  slavery.  Their  love  of  liberty 
was  intense.  They  were  a  political  power  in  the 
western  part  of  the  State,  particularly  in  Ottawa, 
Allegan  and  Kent  Counties.  They  had  emigrated 
from  Holland  in  the  forties  because  of  religious  per 
secution,  and  settled  in  the  wilderness  in  Western 
Michigan.  Their  leader  was  Rev.  A.  C.  Van  Raalte 
who  sent  three  sons  to  the  war  and  preached  and  spoke 
against  slavery  and  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 
The  history  of  the  Dutch  people  is  the  history  of  a 
struggle  for  "Liberty  and  Union."  It  is  not  strange 
that  the  Dutch  of  Michigan,  finding  that  "Demo 
cracy"  was  not  "democracy,"  shifted  their  votes  to 
the  Republican  party. 

There  was  a  conservative  element  scattered  through 
out  the  State  that  voted  with  the  Democratic  party. 
It  was  perhaps  with  reference  to  this  that  Mr.  Chandler 

10.  By  1860,  this  change  was  well  under  way. 

11.  On  the  Dutch  in  Michigan,  see  article  by  Prof.  D'Ooge  in 

Mich.  Hist.  Colls.,  "Dutch  Pioneers  of  Michigan,"  also 
Detroit  Tribune,  Sept.  19,  1872,  and  other  papers  about 
same  date.  Quarter-Centennial  held  about  that  time. 


BASIS   OF  MICHIGAN   POLITICS  37 

wrote  to  Charles  T.  Gorham  after  the  election  of  1862r 
"The  Catholic  Church  was  solid  against  us  and  at  least 
fonr-fifths  of  the  Episcopal:112  Although  the  Episcopal 
Church  as  an  organized  body  did  not  ally  itself  on  the 
side  of  the  Democratic  party,  it  probably  included 
among  its  members  many  of  the  wealthier  class  of 
Detroit  society,  whose  conservative  instincts  and 
quicker  sympathy  with  Southern  aristocracy  led  them 
to  prefer  peace  with  compromise  to  civil  war. 

The  counties  of  Emmet,  Cheboygan,  Chippewa, 
Mackinac,  Delta,  Keweenaw,  Houghton  and  Ontona- 
gon  in  the  far  north,  seem  to  have  had  little  interest 
in  politics.  The  population,  largely  foreign,  was  en 
gaged  in  fishing,  mining  and  lumbering.  Transporta 
tion  was  slow,  the  mails  were  few  and  far  between,  the 
best  stump  speakers  never  reached  them.  They  were 
outside  the  pale  of  political  strife  and  continued  to 
vote  the  Democratic  ticket.  Menominee  and  Mar- 
quette,  however,  in  the  Northern  Peninsula  were  Re 
publican.  In  lumbering  and  mining  districts  a  vote 
often  loses  its  significance  for  us  from  the  fact  that  the 
men  voted  as  they  were  told.  I  have  been  informed 
that  Delos  A.  Blodgett  who  lumbered  along  the 
Muskegon  River  was  so  popular  with  his  men  through 
out  that  region  that  they  were  glad  to  accommodate 
him  by  voting  the  Republican  ticket. 

No  statement  of  the  basis  of  Michigan  politics  would 
be  complete  without  mention  of  the  strong  Union 
sentiment  that  pervaded  all  ranks  of  society.  In  the 
words  of  the  Detroit  Advertiser™  "It  is  to  us  like  air 

12.  The  italics  are  the  writer's. 

13.  Advertiser,  May  4,  1854. 


3$  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER 

we  breathe  or  the  water  we  drink — an  indispensable 
element  of  our  existence;  and  as  human  beings,  we  can 
live  as  well  without  air  or  water  as  can  the  component 
parts  of  our  Republic  live  without  the  union  of  our 
States/' 


CHAPTER  V 
ELECTED  TO  SUCCEED  LEWIS  CASS  IN  SENATE 

TN  the  campaign  of  1856  the  Democratic  party  of 
Michigan  stood  firm  on  the  issue  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill.  They  deplored  slavery  as  an  institution 
but  claimed  for  the  people  of  the  Territories,  prepara 
tory  to  their  admission  to  the  Union,  the  right  to  de 
termine  for  themselves  whether  or  not  they  would  be 
slave  or  free. 

By  this,  the  doctrine  of  the  Nicholson  Letter  (the 
work  of  the  leader  of  Michigan  Democracy,  General 
Cass),  the  Democrats  hoped  to  maintain  themselves 
in  power.  They  hoped  to  win  Northern  votes  by  their 
adherence  to  the  principle  of  " local  self-government" 
and  Southern  votes  by  opening  up  new  territory  to  the 
" peculiar  institution"  of  the  South.  They  were  trying 
to  serve  two  masters,  Freedom  and  Slavery. 

But  the  Northwest  was  aroused.  It  had  done  with 
compromise.  In  its  effort  to  keep  its  power  in  the 
South  the  Democratic  party  of  the  North  had  gone  on 
bending  the  knee,  compromising,  conceding  to  the 
demands  of  the  slaveocracy,  until  it  had  become  un 
representative  of  the  spirit  of  the  North. 

The  Democrats  believed  that  the  principle  of  "  non 
intervention  by  Congress"  would  stifle  all  further 
agitation.  The  young,  aggressive,  radical  Republi 
can  party  did  not  care  whether  agitation  stopped  or 
not.  Their  fighting  blood  was  aroused  and  they  had 


40  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

done  with  compromise.  In  18561  the  Republicans  of 
Michigan  carried  the  State  by  a  majority  of  19,623 
votes  for  Fremont. 

The  senatorial  term  of  Lewis  Cass  expired  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1857.  His  public  career  had  been  a 
long  and  eminently  honorable  one,  but  he  was  old  in 
years  and  represented  ideas  which  had  lost  their  hold 
upon  the  people  of  Michigan.  With  the  formation 
of  the  Republican  party,  a  party  of  younger  men, 
virile,  enthusiastic  and  earnest,  a  party  having  nothing 
to  lose  and  everything  to  gain,  longing  for  place  and 
power  but  also  bent  on  teaching  the  South  that  they 
at  least  were  not  to  be  bullied  into  concessions — 
with  the  formation  of  such  a  party  and  with  its  victory 
in  the  elections,  the  doom  of  Cass  was  written.  High- 
minded,  scholarly,  patriotic  statesman  that  he  was, 
Lewis  Cass  had  outlived  his  time. 

The  Legislature  of  Michigan  met  early  in  January, 
1857.  The  most  important  question  before  the  mem 
bers  was  the  election  of  a  United  States  Senator.  The 
Republicans  having  a  majority  of  both  Houses,  the 
real  contest  took  place  in  the  Republican  Caucus. 
The  most  prominent  candidates  were  Zachariah  Chand 
ler  of  Detroit,  Isaac  P.  Christiancy  of  Monroe,  Austin 
Blair  of  Jackson,  Moses  Wisner  of  Pontiac,  Jacob  M. 
Howard  of  Detroit  and  Kinsley  S.  Bingham  of  Liv 
ingston  County.  There  was  a  constitutional2  objection 

1.  Michigan  Manual. 

2.  "No  person  elected  Governor  or  Lieutenant-Governor  shall 

be  eligible  to  any  office  or  appointment  from  the  Legis 
lature,  or  either  house  thereof,  during  the  time  for  which 
he  was  elected.  All  votes  for  either  of  them,  for  any 
such  office,  shall  be  void."  Constitution  of  Michigan, 
1850,  art.  V,  sec.  16. 


' 


ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER 

From  a  miniature  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Eugene  Hale,  Ellsworth, 

Maine. 


ELECTION  TO  U.  S-  SENATE  41 

to  the  selection  of  Governor  Bingham  which  greatly 
weakened  his  claims.  Austin  Blair,  never  a  good  wire 
puller,  failed  to  secure  substantial  support.  Mr. 
Chandler  was  from  the  first  the  leading  candidate. 
He  had  no  scruples  against  bringing  a  large  lobby  to 
his  support  and  openly  sought  to  "win  the  game." 
His  opponents,  ostensibly  at  least,  acted  upon  the 
principle  that  "  office  should  seek  the  man  and  not  the 
man  the  office."  There  was  some  attempt  to  com 
bine  all  elements  of  opposition  to  Mr.  Chandler, 
eliminate  him  from  the  race  and  choose  a  candidate 
from  among  his  opponents;  the  plan  failed.  Mr. 
Chandler's  support  came  principally  from  the  central 
and  western  part  of  the  State.3  The  members  from 
these  sections  were  for  the  most  part  young  men,  in 
experienced  in  politics  but  radical  Republicans.  Their 
votes  made  Mr.  Chandler  the  caucus  nominee  and 
resulted  in  his  election  to  the  Senate. 

There  is  some  significance  in  the  source  of  Mr. 
Chandler's  support.  We  have  already  noted  that 
the  central  and  western  parts  of  the  State  were  the 
strongest  Republican  areas.  They  were  also  the 
most  radical.  Mr.  Chandler's  opponents  were  all 
sound  Republicans.  But  Isaac  P.  Christiancy  was  a 
lawyer,  later  a  Justice  of  the  Michigan  Supreme 
Court;  Jacob  M.  Howard  was  an  excellent  constitu 
tional  lawyer  and  a  man  of  scholarly  tastes;  Moses 
Wisner,  Austin  Blair — both  were  lawyers,  and  Lewis 
Cass  had  been  a  lawyer.  These  western  radical  Re 
publicans  did  not  want  to  send  a  lawyer  nor  a  man  of 
scholarly  tastes  to  represent  them  in  the  Senate. 

3.     Free  Press,  January  9,  1857;  Advertiser,  January  1,  1859. 


42  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

They  wanted  to  send  a  man  to  Washington  who  would 
fight  slaveholders — a  fire-eater  of  the  Northwest  to  con 
tend  with  the  fire-eaters  of  the  South.  They  cared 
little  about  " experience  as  a  statesman"  or  "training 
in  the  law."  The  frontier  never  does.  A  letter 
written  at  the  time  asks:4 

"But  is  not  this  question  of  experience,  or  of  educa 
tion  as  statesmen  in  our  country  a  mere  hallucination? 
Does  not  the  history  of  Roger  Sherman,  the  Rhode 
Island  shoe-maker,  of  N.  P.  Banks  who  (although  ad 
mitted  to  be  the  ablest  Speaker  that  has  ever  occupied 
the  chair  since  Mr.  Clay)  at  26  years  of  age  was  a 
hard-working  machinist,  of  Wilson  who  reared  as  a 
shoe-maker  and  acquired  his  experience  and  skill  as  a 
debater  while  hammering  away  at  his  last,  prove  that 
the  very  best  Representatives  and  Senators  that  our 
Country  has  produced  have  come  fresh  from  the 
people,  upright,  active  and  energetic  mechanics  or 
business  men?" 

The  fact  that  Mr.  Chandler  was  a  merchant  and  a 
man  of  little  education  helped  him  to  win  a  place  in 
the  Senate.  His  wealth  was  another  element  in  his 
favor.5  He  had  made  it  himself  and  was  admired  for 


4.  Letter  signed  "Michigan"  in  Detroit    Tribune,  Dec.   29, 

1856 — a  Chandler  paper  representing  radical  element  in 
Republican  party. 

5.  "A  curiously  significant  change  has  come  about  in  our 

attitude  toward  millionaires.  In  the  early  days,  when 
our  society  was  less  differentiated  and  wealth -gaming 
represented  exceptional  ability  of  approximately  the  same 
kind  as  that  of  the  average  man,  mere  possession  was 
prima  facie  evidence  of  shrewdness  and  savoir  faire.  .The 
rich  man  was  the  respected  'leading  citizen'  (with  a 
strong  local  flavor).  He  was  the  ordinary  obscure 
citizen  raised  to  the  Nth  degree."  Walter  E.  Weyle, 
The  New  Democracy,  p.  80. 


ELECTION  TO  U.  S.  SENATE  43 

his  shrewdness.  No  doubt  his  "lobby"  and  his  very 
"practical'*  methods  of  gaining  votes  (of  which  we 
shall  speak  later)  helped  him  to  win,  but  above  all  else, 
his  personality  was  of  a  type  to  appeal  to  the  western 
members.  The  Marshall  Statesman  of  January  14, 
1857,  tells  the  secret  of  his  power  with  the  West, 
"Chandler  will  never  bow  the  knee  to  the  behests 
of  the  slave  power,  will  never  cringe  to  the  threats  of 
Southern  fire-eaters,  will  never  brook  the  sneers  and 
insults  of  slavedom's  bullies,  but  true  to  the  memory 
of  his  Revolutionary  Sires,  he  will  battle  for  the  right 
and  prove  an  able  champion  of  the  guaranties  of  con 
stitutional  liberty."  And  again  on  January  21,  re 
plying  to  the  ridicule  of  Mr.  Chandler's  oratory  called 
out  by  his  election,  "He  will  prove  no  dough-face,  no 
apologist  for  slavery  extensionists,  no  cringing  sycoph 
ant  to  Southern  braggadocios  and  no  doer  of  Southern 
will.  If  his  speeches  prove  not  to  be  replete  with  elo 
quence,  elegant  diction,  rounded  periods,  logical  argu 
ments  and  cogent  reasonings,  his  acts  and  votes  will  be 
eloquent  and  on  the  right  side." 


CHAPTER  VI 

EARLY  YEARS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE,  AND 
THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860 

TN  one  respect  at  least,  the  West  and  South  are 
akin:  both  are  characterized  by  an  independent 
and  sensitive  spirit  that  is  quick  to  resent  an  insult 
and  to  maintain  its  "honor."  Mr.  Chandler's  election 
to  the  Senate  was  due  in  no  small  degree  to  the  belief 
of  his  constituents  that  in  him  they  had  found  a  man 
who  would  stand  his  ground,  refuse  concessions  and 
demand  recognition  for  the  claims  of  the  Northwest. 

When  Mr.  Chandler  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  he 
found  the  slaveocracy  in  full  control.  All  that  he 
could  hope  to  accomplish  was  to  champion  the  cause 
of  the  Northwest,  to  maintain  its  "honor"  in  the 
Senate,  to  meet  defeats  with  threats,  and  by  his  ab 
solute  faith  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  his  party,  to 
encourage  the  Republicans  at  home  to  keep  up  the 
fight  against  the  Democracy.  This  is  the  key  to  his 
career  in  the  Senate  from  his  entrance  in  1857  until 
the  election  of  1860  and  the  withdrawal  of  Southern 
members  left  the  Republicans  in  full  control. 

In  the  appointment  of  the  Senate  Committees  in 
December,  1857,  the  Northwest  was  practically  ig 
nored;  out  of  fifteen  committees  that  did  all  the  busi 
ness,  thirteen  had  Southern  chairmen.  The  Com 
mittee  on  Commerce,  of  vital  importance  to  Mr. 
Chandler's  constituents,  was  composed  entirely  of 


EARLY  YEARS  IN  U.  S.  SENATE  45 

Eastern  and  Southern  men:  Clay  of  Arkansas,  Ben 
jamin  of  Louisiana,  Bigler  of  Pennsylvania,  Toombs 
of  Georgia,  Reid  of  North  Carolina,  Allan  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Hamlin  of  Maine.1  Hamlin  of  Maine, 
Doolittle  of  Wisconsin  and  Chandler  of  Michigan, 
arraigned  the  Democrats  in  bitter  terms  for  monopo 
lizing  the  memberships  of  the  standing  committees. 
Mr.  Chandler  closed  his  speech  with  a  threat:  "'But 
we  would  say  to  the  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Chamber,  you  have  the  power  to-day;  you  can 
elect  your  committees  as  you  see  fit but,  gentle 
men,  beware!  for  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  the 
measure  you  mete  out  to  us  to-day  shall  be  meted  to> 
you  again."2 

On  March  12,  1858,  Mr.  Chandler  delivered  a  care 
fully  prepared  address  on  Kansas  affairs.3  The  Wash 
ington  correspondent  of  the  Detroit  Tribune?  wrote, 
"Passing  to  President  Buchanan,  he  said  that  when  he 
attempted  to  force  a  constitution5  on  an  unwilling 
people,  he  was  no  longer  James  Buchanan,  President, 

but  James  Buchanan,  criminal Should  he 

attempt  it  and  blood  be  shed,  he  would  be  liable  to 
impeachment  and  liable  to  be  hanged  as  a  murderer." 
Quoting  an  extract  from  Senator  Hammond's  "  Mud 
sill"  speech,  he  replied  to  it  with  force,  quoting  South 
ern  writers  to  prove  the  degraded  condition  of  the 
whites  at  the  South  and  closing  with  a  spirited  defence 
of  the  Northern  working,  man. 

1.  Cong.  Globe,  1st  Session,  35th  Cong.,  p.  38. 

2.  IWa.,p.40. 

3.  Ibid.,  P.  II,  p.  1086-1093. 

4.  Detroit  Tribune,  March  13,  1858. 

5.  Referring  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution. 


46  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

During  the  session,  Mr.  Chandler  took  eveiy  op 
portunity  to  secure  an  appropriation  for  deepening 
the  channel  at  the  St.  Clair  Flats.  Southern  hostility 
to  the  principle  of  internal  improvements  and  Southern 
jealousy  of  the  growth  of  the  Northwest  defeated  his 
efforts.  During  the  debate  Mr.  Chandler  exclaimed.6 
"I  want  to  have  the  yeas  and  nays  upon  it.  I  want  to 
see  who  is  friendly  to  the  great  North-West  and  who 
is  not;  for  we  are  about  to  make  our  last  prayer  here. 
The  time  is  not  far  distant  when,  instead  of  coming 
here  and  begging  for  our  rights  we  shall  extend  our 
great  hands  and  take  the  blessing.  After  1860,  we 
shall  not  be  here  as  beggars." 

In  the  short  session  of  Congress,  1858-59,  Mr. 
Chandler  succeeded  in  pushing  through  the  Senate  an 
appropriation  of  $55,000  for  the  St.  Clair  Flats,  only 
to  have  it  vetoed  by  President  Buchanan — a  severe 
blow  to  the  Democracy  of  Michigan  who  found  it 
difficult  to  find  arguments  to  conciliate  their  followers, 
but  a  most  telling  campaign  argument  for  the  Re 
publicans. 

Realizing  that  it  is  always  "good  politics"  for  the 
minority  to  attack  the  majority  for  extravagance, 
Mr.  Chandler  made  many  speeches  on  this  subject 
during  the  sessions  1857-58  and  1858-59.  His  speeches 
arraigning  the  Democrats  for  extravagance  and  cor 
rupt  practices  were  excellent  for  home  consumption. 
On  February  17,  1859,  he  spoke  against  a  bill  ap 
propriating  thirty  million  dollars  to  facilitate  the 
acquisition  of  Cuba  by  negotiation : 

"This  money  is  a  great  corruption  fund  for  bribery 

6.    Cong.  Globe,  1st  Sess.  35th  Cong.,  p.  2674. 


EARLY  YEARS  IN  U.  S-  SENATE  47 

and  bribery  only.     It  is  a  proposition  worthy of 

the  brigand;   worthy   of  James   Buchanan The 

friends  of  the  measure  have  no  more  idea  of  purchasing 
Cuba  under  it  than  I  have  of  buying  it  on  private  ac 
count.  They  are  to  go  before  the  country  upon  this 
cry  of  Cuba  and  upon  it  they  hope  to  float  into  power 
again  in  1860.  Vain,  fallacious  hope.  Forty  Cubas 
and  three  hundred  million  dollars  as  a  bribery  and 
corruption  fund  would  not  save  the  Democratic  party 
from  that  annihilation  which  the  Almighty  has  de 
creed."7 

The  36th  Congress  opened  in  December  1859  under 
the  excitement  of  the  John  Brown  affair  and  of  Helper's 
Impending  Crisis*  In  a  speech  on  a  resolution  to 
appoint  a  committee  to  investigate  the  John  Brown 
raid,  Mr.  Chandler  ridiculed  the  panic  in  Virginia 
consequent  upon  a  raid  of  17  men  upon  a  town  of  2,000 
inhabitants,  repudiated  the  charge  that  the  Republican 
party  was  responsible  for  the  foray,  and  addressing 
the  Southern  members,  in  passionate  words  exclaimed,9 
"John  Brown  has  been  executed  as  a  traitor  in  Vir 
ginia,  and  I  want  it  to  go  upon  the  records  of  the 
Senate  in  the  most  solemn  manner  and  to  be  held  up 
as  a  warning  to  traitors,  come  they  from  the  North, 
South,  East  or  West — dare  to  raise  your  impious 
hands  against  this  Government,  against  our  Con 
stitution  and  our  laws  and  you  hang.  Sir,  I  care  not 
whether  that  traitor  be  a  Garrisonean  Abolitionist 
.  .  or  whether  he  be  a  Southern  Governor  who 


7.  Cong.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  35th  Cong.,  1079-1083. 

8.  Published  two  years  before,   but  only  now  prominently 

before  the  public. 

9.  Dec.  7,  1859,  Globe,  1st  Sess.  36th  Cong.,  p.  34. 


48  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

proclaims  that  in  certain  events  he  will  raise  his 
traitorous  hand  against  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union,  I  want  this  record  to  stand  and  to  stand  sol 
emnly  before  the  Senate — let  the  traitor  hang.  Threats 
have  been  made  year  after  year  for  the  last  thirty 
years,  that  in  certain  events  this  Union  will  be  dis 
solved.  Sir,  it  is  no  small  thing  to  dissolve  this  Union. 
It  means  a  bloody  revolution  or  it  means  a  halter.  It 
means  a  successful  over-turning  of  this  Government, 
or  it  means  the  fate  of  John  Brown,  and  I  want  that  to 
go  solemnly  on  the  records  of  this  Senate.'* 

As  a  prominent  member  of  a  group  of  Northern 
fire-eaters,  Mr.  Chandler  was  cordially  hated  and 
often  insulted  by  the  Democrats.  On  May  2,  1860, 
Mr.  Fitch  of  Indiana  referred  to  him  in  a  speech  in 
the  Senate  as  "that  Xantippe  in  pants. "10  The  gross 
personal  abuse  heaped  upon  Northern  radicals  by  their 
political  opponents  at  length  became  unbearable  and 
resulted  in  an  agreement  between  Mr.  Chandler, 
Benjamin  F.  Wade  and  Simon  Cameron,  to  resent  any 
repetition  of  such  conduct  by  challenge  to  fight,  and, 
in  the  precise  words  of  the  compact,  "to  carry  the 
quarrel  into  a  coffin."11 

In  the  election  of  1860  Mr.  Chandler  was  a  most 
indefatigable  campaigner.  On  October  5,  in  reply  to 
an  invitation  to  speak  in  Illinois,  Mr.  Chandler  wrote 
to  Lyman  Trumbull: 

"I  can  talk  twice  a  day  indoors  or  once  to  a  large 

10.  Cong.  Globe,  1st  Sess.  36th  Cong.,  p.  2403. 

11.  A  memorandum  in  regard  to  this  agreement  was  drawn  up 

and  signed  by  the  three  concerned,  on  May  26,  1874. 
Three  copies  only  were  made.  Mr.  Wade's  copy  is  given 
in  A.  G.  Riddle's  Life  of  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  pp.  215-216. 


EARLY  YEARS  IN  U.  S.  SENATE  49 

crowd  out  doors  with  an  occasional  evening  meeting 
under  cover.  As  to  night  traveling  fatigue  of  it,  it  is 
not  of  the  slightest  consequence.  Make  your  ap 
pointments  where  they  can  be  met  and  they  shall  be. 
I  will  rest  after  Election.  I  usually  speak  here  twice 
a  day,  once  in  and  once  out  of  doors."12 

In  August  Mr.  Chandler  was  speaking  in  New  York 
and  New  England.  September  found  him  back  in 
time  to  meet  William  H.  Seward  who  was  entertained 
during  his  stay  in  Detroit  at  Mr.  Chandler's  home. 
September  was  a  busy  month  in  Michigan,  with 
Seward,  Chandler,  B.  F.  Wade,  C.  F.  Adams,  F.  W. 
Kellogg,  Austin  Blair  and  many  lesser  lights  stumping 
the  State  for  the  Republicans.  The  last  two  weeks  in 
October  found  Mr.  Chandler  helping  Trumbull  in 
Illinois. 

Mr.  Chandler  tried  hard  but  unsuccessfully  to  get 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  visit  Detroit  during  the  campaign. 
On  August  28,  Mr.  Chandler  wrote  Lyman  Trumbull:13 

"  Detroit,  Mich.  Aug.  28,  1860. 
"Hon.  L.  Trumbull, 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  want  you  and  Mrs.  Trumbull  in 
company  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  to  visit  Detroit 
and  become  my  guests  on  the  2nd  of  Oct.  at  the  time 
of  our  State  Fair.  C.  M.  Clay  and  family  will  be  with 
me — Reasons:  1st,  Michigan  is  one  of  the  certain 
States  by  an  overwhelming  majority  and  therefore  no 
political  reason  can  be  assigned.  2nd,  If  there  is  a 

12.  MS  letter  dated  Detroit,  Oct.  5,  1860,  Trumbull  papers, 

Library  of  Cong. 

13.  MS  letter,  Trumbull  papers,  Library  of  Cong. 

7 


50  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

doubtful  State  (which  I  do  not  admit),  it  is  the  State 
of  New  York.  All  the  money,  all  the  effort,  all  the 
rascality  is  to  be  expended  upon  that  State  and  we  may 
as  well  prepare  now  for  a  solid  opposition  there  for  in 
my  opinion  it  is  sure  to  come.  Our  Friends  are  true 
as  Steel  and  confident.  I  have  been  there  and  yet 
Bigelow  of  the  Post  [?]  only  promised  10,000  majority 
in  case  of  a  solid  opposition.  This  is  about  1-4  of 
1  per  cent  upon  the  vote  of  the  State.  I  am  now 
talking  confidentially  to  you  and  sincerely  and  looking 
at  the  dark  side.  A  visit  here  from  Mr.  Lincoln  would 
react  tremendously  upon  New  York.  This  was  a 
Seward  State.  Thousands  would  come  from  New 
York  to  see  Mr.  Lincoln  and  they  would  find  an 
amount  of  enthusiasm  here  which  would  react  power 
fully  through  Western  New  York.  Office  Seekers 
shall  be  excluded  and  no  speech  from  him  shall  be 
solicited.  I  conferred  [?]  with  several  of  Our  most 
judicious  friends  in  New  York  upon  this  subject  & 
they  were  all  of  the  opinion  that  it  would  be  a  good 
movement.  The  Michigan  Central  R.  R.  will  place  a 
car  at  the  exclusive  disposal  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  com 
pany  both  ways  Free  of  expense.  I  will  come  to 
Illinois  at  any  time  you  wish  after  the  15th  of  Oct.  & 
if  desirable  will  bring  W.  A.  Howard  &  One  or  two 
more  A  1  speakers.  I  have  this  day  written  Mr. 
Lincoln  simply  extending  the  invitation  and  stating 
that  I  would  write  more  fully  to  you.  Will  you  not 
confer  with  or  write  to  Mr.  Lincoln  and  let  me  hear 
from  you  at  your  Early  convenience  and  oblige, 
"Very  truly  yours, 

"Z.  CHANDLER." 


EARLY  YEARS  IN  U.  S-  SENATE  51 

The  election  of  1860  was  a  triumph  for  the  Repub 
licans  of  the  Northwest.  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa — all  gave  Republican  ma 
jorities.  The  new  apportionment  of  Representatives 
resulted  in  large  gains  in  the  House,  and  from  this 
time  on  the  Republicans  of  the  Northwest  were  a 
powerful  factor  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

In  regard  to  the  financial  situation  following  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  Chandler  wrote:14 

"Detroit,  Nov.  17,  1860. 
''Hon.  Lyman  Trumbull 
"My  dear  Sir 

"The  mercantile  world  is  in  a  ferment,  even  some 
good  reliable  Republicans  are  alarmed  and  wish  some 
thing  done.  Now  I  have  no  fear  that  the  senseless 
Southern  howl  will  affect  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  least, 
but  I  do  fear  that  this  Republican  alarm  may  extend 
even  to  Springfield.  Having  been  a  life  long  mer 
chant,  associating  with  this  very  class  described,  my 
opinions  ought  to  be  entitled  to  some  little  weight  and 
I  have  no  doubt  that  they  will  receive  all  that  they 
are  entitled  to. 

"From  the  days  of  Carthage  to  those  of  James  Bucha 
nan  the  great  mercantile  centres  have  been  peaceable — 
ever  ready  to  hire  defenders,  not  furnish  them,  ever 
ready  to  buy  immunity  but  not  to  fight  for  it.  Yet 
this  spirit  has  not  and  does  not  extend  beyond  the 
suburbs  of  the  great  commercial  marts.  New  Jersey 
is  a  mere  suburb  of  New  York  City  and  has  been — of 
her  vote.  A  panic  can  be  gotten  up  to  order  at  any 

14.    Z.  C.  to  Lyman  Trumbull,  Trumbull  papers. 


52  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER 

time  by  these  gentry — witness  the  U.  S.  Bank  Panic 
upon  Gen.  Jackson  and  the  disunion  Monetary  panic 
to  defeat  Mr.  Lincoln. 

"These  panic  makers  are  now  being  swept  out  of 
existence  by  the  rebound  of  their  own  missile  and  I 
thank  God  for  it.  The  South  pays  nothing  and  the 
Union — are  the  only  sufferers  directly  but  indirectly 
others  suffer  and  I  am  sorry  for  it  but  there  is  no 
remedy  except  the  natural  one.  Let  the  storm  ex 
haust  its  fury  and  there  will  come  a  calm.  I  am  to 
day  one  of  the  large  sufferers  having  over  100,000 
dollars  in  the  vortex  of  business  besides  a  large  amount 
in  stocks  which  have  greatly  depreciated.  There 
fore  I  have  a  right  to  speak  as  a  sufferer  and  sym 
pathizer  and  I  now  say  as  such  dont  pay  the  slightest 
attention  to  this  mercantile  howl.  We  shall  be  better 
off  six  months  or  a  year  hence  by  settling  this  question 
of  secession  and  panic  now  and  forever.  This  is 
either  a  Government  to  be  sustained  or  a  thing  to  be 
destroyed.  If  it  is  a  Government  let  us  stand  by  and 
sustain  it — if  a  thing  without  the  power  of  self  pro 
tection  let  it  perish  and  the  sooner  the  better.  These 
fellows  now  want  concessions  to  induce  them  not  to  do 
what  they  dare  not  attempt  to  do.  Let  us  have  a 
regular  Gen.  Jackson  Administration  and  no  com 
promises  or is  the  earnest  wish  of 

"  Your  friend 

"Z.  CHANDLER. 

"P.  S.  My  ankle  is  very  much  better  although  I  am 
still  confined  to  the  house." 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  WAR  BEGINS 

CHANDLER  and  bluff  "Ben."  Wade 
were  among  the  first  to  realize  that  war  was  in 
evitable,  but  they  were  not  the  men  to  shrink  from  the 
prospect.  A  keen  observer  of  affairs  in  Washington1 
wrote  in  December,  1860,  "  There  is  only  one  body  of 
politicians  of  the  multitude  assembled  here  which 
shows  a  cheerful  steadiness  amidst  the  fluctuations 
of  rumor  and  of  men's  moods;  and  that  is  the  stout 
band  of  Republican  members  from  the  North-West. " 

The  Michigan  delegation  in  Congress  was  opposed 
to  all  compromise  propositions.  Hon.  Henry  Waldron, 
Representative  of  the  Second  District,  wrote2  from 
Washington  on  January  4,  1861:  "I  do  not  think 
that  you  need  be  apprehensive  about  compromises .... 
The  sentiment  of  our  delegation  is  that  we  have 
nothing  to  concede,  compromise  or  apologize  for." 

Michigan  sent  no  delegates  to  the  Peace  Congress. 
On  February  11,  Mr.  Chandler,  fearing  that  the  Peace 
Congress  might  agree  upon  a  compromise  proposition, 
wrote  a  letter  to  Governor  Blair3  urging  him  to  send 
delegates,  "stiff -backed  men  or  none,"  who  would 

1.  The  correspondent  of  the  London   Daily  News  as  quoted 

by  the  Detroit  Advertiser,  Jan.  22,  1861. 

2.  Free  Press,  Jan.  25,  1861,  quoting  letter  published  by  a 

Republican  paper  at  Jonesville,  Mich. 

3.  Cong.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  36th  Cong.,  p.  1247.     This  letter  as 

well  as  Mr.  Bingham's  is  given  in  Post-Tribune  "Life," 
p.  190. 


54  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

vote  against  compromise.  In  a  postscript  he  added, 
" Without  a  little  blood-letting  this  Union  will  not, 
in  my  estimation,  be  worth  a  rush."  On  the  15th 
Senator  Bingham  of  Michigan  also  wrote  Governor 
Blair  urging  him  to  send  delegates  to  the  Peace  Con 
gress  and  saying,  in  substance,  that  the  Michigan 
delegates  would  hold  the  balance  of  power  and  could 
prevent  compromise.4 

Mr.  Chandler's  letter  of  the  llth  gained  him  the 
title  of  "  Blood-letter."  It  was  often  used  against 
him  by  his  enemies  but  he  always  defended  himself5 
by  quoting  Thos.  Jefferson:  "What  signify  a  few 
lives  lost  in  a  century  or  two?  The  tree  of  liberty 
must  be. replenished  from  time  to  time  with  the  blood 
of  patriots  and  tyrants.  It  is  its  natural  manure." 

Mr.  Chandler's  speech  of  March  2  was  a  powerful 
one.6  He  began  it  with  a  vigorous  defense  of  the 

4.  On   March   2    Mr.   Chandler   voted   against   the   Convin 

proposition  that  "no  amendment  shall  be  made  to  the 
Constitution  which  will  authorize  or  give  Congress  power 
to  abolish  or  interfere  within  any  State  with  the  domestic 
institutions  thereof,  including  that  of  persons  held  to 
labor  or  servitude  by  the  laws  of  said  State."*  On  the 
same  day,  he  voted  against  the  Crittenden  Compromise 
which  proposed  to  make  the  line  of  36°  30'  the  boundary 
between  slave  and  free  territory .b  On  July  25,  however, 
he  voted  for  the  Crittenden  Resolution,  introduced  into 
the  Senate  by  Andrew  Johnson,  which  declared  that  the 
war  was  waged  simply  "to  defend  and  maintain  the 
supremacy  of  the  Constitution  and  to  preserve  the 
Union"  and  not  "  for  purpose  of  overthrowing  established 
institutions."0 

a.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  36th  Cong.,  p.  1403. 

b.  Ibid.,  2nd  Sess.  36th  Cong.,  p.  1405.    ' 

c.  Ibid.,  1st  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  265. 

5.  See  his  speech  of  Mar.  2,  1861,  Cong.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  36th 

Cong.,  pp.  1370-72. 

6.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  36th  Cong., -pp.  1370-1372. 


ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER 

From  a  daguerreotype  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.   Eugene  Hale,  Ells 
worth,  Maine. 


CIVIL  WAR  BEGINS  55 

"blood-letter"  and  then  taking  up  the  demand  for 
compromise,  exclaimed:  "Mr.  President,  this  is  not 
a  question  of  compromise;  this  is  a  question  whether 
we  have,  or  have  not,  a  Government.  If  we  have  a 
Government,  it  is  capable  of  making  itself  respected 
abroad  and  at  home.  If  we  have  not  a  Government 
let  this  miserable  rope  of  sand  which  purports  to  be  a 
Government  perish,  and  I  will  shed  no  tears  over  its 

destruction we    are   told   that    six    states   have 

seceded,  and  the  Union  is  broken  up;  and  all  we  can 
do  is  to  send  commissioners  to  treat  with  traitors 
with  arms  in  their  hands;  treat  with  men  who  have 
fired  upon  your  flag;  treat  with  men  who  have  seized 
your  custom-houses,  who  have  erected  batteries  upon 
your  navigable  waters  and  who  now  stand  defying 
your  authority  ....  Sir,  I  will  never  submit  to  this 
degradation.  If  the  right  is  conceded  to  any  State  to 
secede  from  the  Union  without  the  consent  of  the 
other  States,  I  am  for  immediate  dissolution;  and  if 
the  State  which  I  have  the  honor  in  part  to  represent 
will  not  follow  that  advice,  I  for  one,  upon  my  own 
responsibility  and  alone,  will  resign  my  seat  in  this 
body,  and  leave  this  Government.  So  soon  as  I  can 
prepare  the  small  matters,  I  shall  have  to  arrange  for 
emigration  to  some  country  where  they  have  a  Gov 
ernment.  Sir,  I  would  rather  join  the  Comanches; 
I  will  never  live  under  a  Government  that  has  not  the 
power  to  enforce  its  laws." 

The  remarks  of  Senator  Wigfall  of  Texas7  in  reply  to 
Mr.  Chandler's  speech  illustrate  the  acerbity  of  the 
debates  at  this  period.  "Mr.  President,"  began  Sena- 

7.     Ibid.,  2nd  Sess.  36th  Cong.,  p.  1372, 


56  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

tor  Wigfall,  "it  was  said  by  a  Scotchman,  boasting 
of  his  parson,  that  'he  was  a  most  po'orful  preacher, 
for  he  had  pounded  three  pulpits  to  pieces  and  banged 
the  life  out  of  five  bibles/  Of  course  I  do  not  mean 
it  for  anybody ....  I  have  observed  Sir,  during  a  not 
very  long  life,  that  those  who  are  most  in  the  habit  of 
taking  their  tongues  off  the  civil  list,  have  another 
habit;  and  that  is,  of  keeping  their  weapons  upon  the 

peace  establishment The   Senator  says  that,   in 

certain  contingencies,  he  will  turn  Comanche.  God 
forbid!  I  hope  not.  They  have  already  suffered 
much  from  their  contact  with  the  whites." 

Late  in  January  Mr.  Chandler  took  part  in  the  de 
bate  on  the  Pacific  Railway  bill.  On  the  29th  he 
said,8  "I  am  very  anxious  to  vote  for  any  measure 
which  will  secure  the  building  of  a  Pacific  railroad." 
On  a  proposed  amendment,  namely,  "And  no  mort 
gage,  or  construction  bonds,  shall  ever  be  issued  by 
said  company  on  said  road,  or  mortgage  or  lien  made 
in  any  way  except  to  the  United  States,"  Mr.  Chandler 
remarked,9  "I  want  this  road  built,  and  whether  it  be 
built  on  stocks  or  not  is  immaterial  to  me,  so  that  the 
road  itself  be  built ....  Sir,  this  proposition  is  an 
absurdity  upon  its  face.  No  railroad  ever  was  built 
or  in  my  judgment  ever  will  be  completed  without 
the  power  of  borrowing  money.10 

8.    Ibid.,  2nd  Sess.  36th  Cong.,  p.  609. 

'  9.    Ibid.,  2nd  Sess.  36th  Cong.,  p.  617. 

10.  The  matter  was  compromised  by  an  amendment  proposed 
by  Mr.  Chandler  and  agreed  to  by  the  Senate,  "No 
mortgage  or  construction  bonds  shall  ever  be  issued  by 
said  company  on  said  road  until  thirty  million  dollars 
shall  have  been  subscribed  and  expended."  Globe,  2nd 
Sess.  36th  Cong.,  p.  638. 


CIVIL  WAR  BEGINS  57 

As  rebellion  advanced  during  the  spring  of  1861 
Mr.  Chandler  "was  furious  over  the  state  of  inactivity 
which  prevailed.  He  urged  President  Lincoln  to 
arrest  Breckenridge,  Wigfall  and  other  traitors  who 
were  making  disloyal  speeches  in  Congress.  "n  Radical 
pressure  on  General  Scott  and  the  Administration  re 
sulted  in  the  Battle  of  Bull  Run.  Senators  Chandler 
and  Wade  and  Sergeant-at-Arms  Brown  of  the  Senate, 
were  so  anxious  to  see  the  rebels  whipped  that  they 
proceeded  to  the  scene  of  conflict  in  a  carriage,  and 
when  the  battle  began  to  turn  against  the  Union  arms 
they  leaped  from  their  carriages  and  with  pistols 
drawn  attempted  to  halt  the  panic  stricken  soldiers.12 
Undaunted  by  the  defeat  at  Bull  Run,  Senators  Wade, 
Chandler  and  Trumbull  called  upon  the  President 
October  26  and  "earnestly  represented  to  him  the 
importance  of  immediate  action.13  Two  days  later 
they  had  another  conference  with  the  President  and 
Mr.  Seward,  at  the  house  of  the  latter.  ..  .They 
called  upon  Gen.  McClellan  also  and  in  the  course  of 
an  animated  conversation,  Mr.  Wade  said  an  un 
successful  battle  was  preferable  to  delay;  a  defeat 
would  be  easily  repaired  by  the  swarming  recruits .... 
McClellan  represented  Gen.  Scott  as  the  obstacle  to 
immediate  action,  and  skilfully  diverted  the  zeal  of 
the  Senators  against  the  General-in-Chief.'*  At  1.15 
a.  m.  the  next  morning  McClellan  wrote:  "For  the 

11.  C.  E.  Hamlin,  Hannibal  Hamlin,  p.  397. 

12.  A  letter  written  a  day  later  by  A.  G.  Riddle  is  given  in 

Riddle,  B.  F.  Wade,  p.  244,  note.  See  also,  Cox, 
Three  Decades,  p.  158  and  Riddle,  Recollections j)j  War 
Times,  p.  45. 

13.  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  IV,  467. 


58  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

last  three  hours  I  have  been  at  Montgomery  Blair's, 
talking  with  Senators  Wade,  Chandler  and  Trumbull 
about  war  matters.  They  will  make  a  desperate  effort 
to-morrow  to  have  Gen.  Scott  retired  at  once.  .  .  . "14 

On  December  5,  1861  Mr.  Chandler  offered  a  reso 
lution  in  the  Senate  to  appoint  a  committee  of  three 
to  inquire  into  the  disasters  of  Bull  Run  and  Edward's 
Feriy,  with  power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers.15 
The  resolution  of  Mr.  Chandler  was  debated  and  he 
accepted  the  substitute  of  Mr.  Grimes,16 

"Resolved  by  the  Senate  (the  House  of  Representa 
tives  concurring),  That  a  joint  committee  of  three 
members  of  the  Senate,  and  four  members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  be  appointed  to  inquire 
into  the  conduct  of  the  present  war,  and  that  they 
have  the  power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers,  and  to 
sit  during  the  sessions  of  either  House  of  Congress." 

The  Senate  agreed  to  this  resolution  by  a  vote  of  33 
to  3  and  thus  was  inaugurated  the  famous  "  Smelling 
Committee,"  or  "  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the 
War."  The  first  meeting  of  this  Committee  was  held 
December  20,  1861,  the  day  after  the  House  had  ap 
pointed  its  members.  On  motion  of  Mr.  Chandler  it 
was  agreed  to  at  once  to  proceed  with  an  investigation 
into  the  disaster  of  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run.  The 
function  of  the  Committee  was  to  inquire  into  the  con 
duct  of  the  war  and  to  bring  out  facts  which  would 
enable  the  President  and  the  Cabinet  to  administer 
more  effectively  and  enable  Congress  to  legislate  more 

14.  McClellan's  Own  Story,  p.  171. 

15.  Cong.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  16. 

16.  Cong.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  32. 


CIVIL  WAR  BEGINS  59 

intelligently.  This  Committee  also  investigated  the 
disaster  to  the  Union  arms  at  Ball's  Bluff,  the  failure  of 
the  Red  River  expedition  under  Banks,  the  Fort 
Pillow  massacre,  the  conduct  of  Fremont  in  adminis 
tering  affairs  in  the  Western  Department,  the  failure 
of  the  attack  on  Petersburg,  in  July,  1864,  the  trade 
in  military  districts,  the  treatment  of  prisoners  in 
Southern  prisons,  M Rebel  Barbarities" —in  fact,  the 
field  of  their  activity  was  wide  and  their  labors  were 
untiring.  They  examined  hundreds  of  witnesses  and 
published  huge  volumes  of  testimony.  Whether,  upon 
the  whole,  the  influence  of  the  Committee  made  for 
good  or  evil  is  perhaps  a  debatable  question.  Certain 
it  is  that  at  the  time  public  opinion  was  divided  upon 
the  point.  The  Senate  was  represented  on  this  Com 
mittee  by  Benjamin  F.  Wade  of  Ohio,  Zachariah 
Chandler  of  Michigan  and  Andrew  Johnson  of  Tennes 
see — all  radicals.  Wade,  Chandler  and  Andrew  John 
son  were  particularly  lacking  in  the  judicial  tempera 
ment.  They  were  narrow-minded  and  bitter  partisans. 
Mr.  Chandler  regarded  Benjamin  Butler  as  a  spotless 
hero  and  General  McClellan  as  a  traitor  secretly 
pledged  to  Southern  rebels.  The  findings  of  such 
men  in  a  time  of  intense  national  excitement  were 
necessarily  biased  and  prejudiced. 

17.  Some  of  the   testimony  on   this  subject   was   gruesome. 

One  witness  testified  the  Southerners  opened  the  graves 
of  Northern  soldiers,  boiled  the  flesh  from  the  bones  and 
used  "Yankee  shin-bones"  for  drum-sticks.  Report, 
part  III,  p.  476. 

18.  Testimony  taken  before  the  Committee  upon  such  a  point, 

for  example,  as  the  causes  for  the  failure  of  the  Red  River 
expedition,  in  1864,  was  conflicting.  The  present  writer 
does  not  care  to  say  that  the  finding  of  the  Committee 


60  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER 

The  inactivity  of  McClellan  during  the  fall  and 
winter  of  1861  and  1862  and  his  scarcely  concealed 
contempt  for  "these  wretched  politicians"  as  he  called 
them,  made  them  his  bitter  enemies.  The  failure  of 
the  Peninsular  campaign  gave  the  radicals  the  op 
portunity  they  desired.  On  July  16,  1862,  Mr. 
Chandler  delivered  before  the  Senate19  a  scathing 
criticism  upon  McClellan' s  generalship — a  criticism 
written,  according  to  rumor,  by  Secretary  Stanton.20 
The  removal  of  McClellan  and  the  promotion  of  Pope 
brought  the  disastrous  second  battle  of  Bull  Run. 
Mr.  Chandler  expressed  his  sentiments  to  Mr.  Trum- 
bull  in  the  following  letter  marked  "confidential." 

"Detroit,  Sept.  10th,  1862. 
"My  Dear  Sir?1 

"It  is  treason  rank  [?]  treason  call  it  by  what  name 
you  will,  that  has  caused  our  late  disasters,  jealousy 
and  discontent  at  the  removal  of  McClellan  &  pro 
motion  of  Pope  will  be  the  cause  assigned  but  when 
ruin,  death  &  the  probable  destruction  of  the  Govt. 
is  the  effect  of  disobedience  of  orders  treason  is  the 
cause.  I  fear  nothing  will  ever  serve  us  but  a  demand 
of  the  loyal  Governors  backed  by  a  threat, — that  a 

was  right  here  and  wrong  there.  From  an  examination 
of  the  personnel  of  the  Committee,  however,  we  may 
perhaps  arrive  at  an  approximate  estimate  of  the  accuracy 
of  their  conclusions.  For  an  elaborate  and  bitter  ar 
raignment  of  the  Committee  one  may  consult  the  Joy 
Pamphlet  as  given  in  the  Detroit  Free  Press,  Jan.  10,  1863. 

19.  Cong.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  pp.  3386-3392. 

20.  Free  Press,  August  5,  1862.    Not  that  the  writer  believes 

the  rumor,  though  Stanton  may  have  supplied  some  of 
the  ideas  expressed  on  the  military  strategy  of  McClellan. 

21.  MS  letter,  Trumbull  papers. 


CIVIL  WAR  BEGINS  61 

change  of  policy  &  men  shall  instantly  be  made.  Are 
they  up  to  the  work?  The  Northwest  is  but  what  are 
we  to  expect  from  New  England.  Has  she  ever  stood 
up  to  the  work  in  Congress.  This  seems  to  me  the 
last  hope.  Your  President  is  unstable  as  water,  if 
he  has  as  I  suspect,  been  bullied  by  those  traitor 
Generals  how  long  will  it  be  before  he  will  by  them  be 
set  aside  &  a  military  dictator22  set  up.  McClellan's 
Army  is  totally  demoralized  &  ready  for  anything  but 
fighting,  it  will  not  fight  under  its  present  Com 
manders,  the  Material  is  good  &  the  Men  will  fight  if 
reorganized  and  properly  handled.  The  Army  of  the 
Northwest  is  not  so  bad,  but  if  Buell  is  kept  in  com 
mand  thirty  days  longer  I  fear  it  will  be  even  worse. 
For  God  and  the  country's  sake,  send  someone  to  stay 
with  the  President  who  will  control  and  hold  him.  I 
do  not  despair  but  my  only  hope  is  in  the  Lord  and  I 
don't  believe  he  will  let  us  be  destroyed. 

"Very  truly  yours, 

"Z.  CHANDLER." 

The  fire-eaters  of  the  Northwest,  knowing  nothing 
of  the  art  of  war,  having  a  supreme  contempt  for  West 
Point  training23  and  constantly  underrating  the 
strength  of  the  Southern  armies  were  to  some  extent 
at  least  responsible  for  the  premature  battles,  constant 
change  of  commanders,  and  disastrous  defeats  of  the 
Union  arms.  Acting  through  the  Committee  on  the- 
Conduct  of  the  War,  they  did  injury  and  injustice  to 

22.  Illegible. 

23.  See  Mr.  Chandler's  speech  in  the  Senate  on  West  Point, 

delivered  Dec.  23,   1861    (Cong.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  37th 
Cong.,  pp.  164-65). 


62  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

able  and  conscientious  generals.  And  yet  it  was  the 
courage,  patriotism  and  absolute  faith  of  the  radicals 
of  the  Northwest  in  the  ultimate  victory  of  the  Union 
arms  that  nerved  the  Administration  in  the  face  of 
the  most  appalling  defeats  to  still  greater  efforts  to 
subjugate  the  South.  Mr.  Chandler  never  doubted 
but  that  the  war  could  be  ended  at  any  time  within 
thirty  or  sixty  days.24  No  defeat  daunted  him.  No 
disaster  caused  his  courage  or  zeal  to  flag.  On  every 
proposition  to  sustain  the  Administration  with  money 
and  men  he  voted  "yea."  That  he  was  narrow, 
prejudiced  and  often  unjust  in  his  judgments  must 
be  admitted.  That  his  interference  in  military  matters 
and  his  intermeddling  with  the  affairs  of  men  more 
capable  within  their  spheres  than  he,  is  no  doubt  true. 
But  it  was  the  indomitable  will,  splendid  courage  and 
patriotic  fervor  of  the  little  band  of  the  Northwestern 
radicals  that  caused  the  war  to  be  prosecuted  with 
such  unflagging  zeal,  that  prevented  concessions  or 
compromises  with  slavery  and  helped  to  make  this 
land  what  it  is  today. 

The  policy  of  confiscating  rebel  property  was  heartily 
supported  by  Mr.  Chandler.  He  refused  to  vote  for 
the  bill  of  June  30,  1862,  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
"utterly  worthless."  But  the  more  stringent  measure 
of  July  12  received  his  support.  He  took  an  active 
part  in  the  debates  on  the  Tax  bill  of  1862,  and  in  all 
financial  discussions  proved  his  shrewdness  as  a  busi 
ness  man. 


24.     See,  for  example,  his  speech  in  the  Senate,  Feb.  12,    1862 
(Cong.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  774). 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1862  IN  MICHIGAN  AND  MR. 

CHANDLER'S  SECOND  ELECTION  TO  THE 

UNITED  STATES  SENATE 

HPHE  Senatorial  election  of  January,  1859,  resulted  in 
the  retirement  of  Charles  E.  Stuart,  Democrat, 
and  the  election  of  Kinsley  S.  Bingham,  Republican, 
to  the  United  States  Senate.  Mr.  Bingham  died 
October  5,  1861,  and  the  question  of  his  successor  be 
came  at  once  a  matter  of.  interest  to  the  politicians. 
Jacob  M.  Howard,  Isaac  P.  Christiancy,  Hezekiah  G. 
Wells  and  Austin  Blair  were  all  candidates  for  the 
place.  Mr.  Chandler  was  particularly  anxious  that 
Howard  should  not  be  elected.  Mr.  Howard  was  a 
Detroit  man  and  with  both  Senators  from  Detroit 
there  was  danger  that  the  locality  argument  would  be 
used  effectively  against  the  re-election  of  Mr.  Chandler 
in  1863.  Early  in  November,  1862,  Mr.  Howard, 
doubtless  through  Mr.  Chandler's  influence,  was  ten 
dered  the  appointment  of  Minister  to  Honduras.1 
Mr.  Howard,  however,  refused  to  be  exiled  to  Hon 
duras  to  promote  the  political  prospects  of  Senator 
Chandler  and  declined  the  offer.2  According  to  the 
Free  Press,  Chandler  then  threw  his  influence  in  favor 
of  H.  G.  Wells  of  Kalamazoo.3  The  contest  finally 

1.  Free  Press,  November  9,  1861. 

2.  Free  Press,  November  16,  1861. 

3.  Free  Press,  January  4,  1862. 


64  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

narrowed  down  to  a  fight  between  Governor  Blair, 
J.  M.  Howard  and  H.  G.  Wells.  Blair  was  a  radical 
of  the  Chandler  type  but  there  was  a  constitutional 
objection  to  his  election.  In  the  end  Howard  was 
chosen,  and  this  result  was  not  unnatural,  for  the  con 
servative  influence  had  been  growing  in  strength  and 
Howard  was  regarded  as  more  conservative  than  either 
Chandler  or  his  candidate  Wells.  His  election  was 
heralded  by  the  Democrats  as  a  Conservative  victory 
and  as  a  portent  of  the  defeat  of  Chandler  in  1863.4 
Once  elected,  however,  he  became  as  radical  as  the 
"Great  Blood-letter"  himself. 

Howard  was  a  scholarly  man,  a  polished  orator,  an 
excellent  constitutional  lawyer  and  a  highly  respected 
citizen.  His  relations  with  the  "rough  and  ready" 
Zachariah  Chandler,  although  amicable  enough,  were 
not  congenial.  Howard  cared  nothing  about  "the 
offices"  and,  as  Chandler  cared  a  great  deal  about 
them,  the  distribution  of  the  federal  patronage  was 
controlled  by  Chandler. 

During  his  first  term  in  the  Senate,  Chandler  used 
the  federal  patronage  to  entrench  himself  in  power. 
He  gained  control  of  the  machinery  of  the  Republican 
party  in  Michigan  and  used  it  to  further  his  political 
interests.  When  the  Democratic  State  Central  Com 
mittee  wrote  to  the  Republican  State  Central  Com 
mittee  proposing  a  Union  Convention  to  nominate 
candidates  for  the  Legislature  in  1862,  they  found  the 
radical  Republican  element  in  control  and  the  prop 
osition  was  declined.5 


4.  Free  Press,  January  11,  1863,  quoting  State  papers. 

5.  The  correspondence  is  given  in  the  Free  Press,  Sept.  6, 1862 . 


* 


JACOB  M.  HOWARD 


SECOND  ELECTION  TO  U.  S-  SENATE        65 

Thefbreach  between  the  radical  and  the  conser- 
vative^elements  in  the  Republican  party  which  was 
disclosed  in  the  Senatorial  campaign  of  1862  widened 
as  the  months  went  by.  In  spite  of  the  refusal  of  the 
Republican  State  Central  Committee  to  join  the  Demo 
crats  in  a  Union  Convention,  the  Democrats  began  to 
call  themselves  " Union  Democrats"  and  "Fusionists." 
By  this  they  hoped  to  gain  the  support  of  conservative 
Republicans  who  opposed  Chandler  and  the  radical 
policy.  In  this  they  met  with  some  success,  for  con 
servative  Republicans  had  to  choose  between  the 
Democratic  party,  calling  itself  the  Union  party  but 
repudiated  by  the  regular  Republican  organization, 
and  the  Republican  party  dominated  by  the  radicals, 
which  stigmatized  the  Union  movement  as  "fire-in-the- 
rear  Democracy." 

During  the  campaign  of  1862  Zachariah  Chandler 
was  the  personification  of  radical  Republicanism  in 
Michigan.  His  reelection  to  the  United  States  Senate 
was  the  most  prominent  issue  in  the  campaign.  ' '  Let 
every  m.an  running  for  the  Legislature  be  questioned 
by  the  voters  as  to  whether  he  will,  under  any  cir 
cumstances,  vote  for  Chandler.  Whoever  declines  to 
say  'no'  ought  to  be  beaten  at  the  polls,"  cried  his 
opponents.6  The  Democrats  were  well  aware  that  the 
Republican  candidates  could  not  answer  "no."  Mr. 
Chandler's  agents  had  been  busy  in  township  caucuses 
and  county  and  legislative  district  conventions.  They 
had  seen  to  it  that  only  Chandler  men  received  Re 
publican  nominations  for  the  Legislature.  By  1862 
Mr.  Chandler  owned  the  Republican  organization  from 

6.    Free  Press,  November  1,  1862. 
9 


66  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

the  State  Central  Committee  down  to  the  most  obscure 
caucus.  In  the  slang  phrase  of  the  day,  "Zachariah 
Chandler  carried  the  Republican  organization  in  his 
breeches'  pockets/'  His  power  was  due  in  part  to  his 
control  over  the  federal  patronage  and  to  a  judicious 
use  of  money,  but  it  rested  upon  a  solid  basis  of  popular 
support.  The  Republicans  of  Michigan  regarded  him 
as  one  who  "  stood  like  a  lion  in  the  path  of  the  'fire- 
in-the-rear'  traitors  who  have  labored  to  damn  the 
fair  fame  of  Michigan  for  loyalty  and  patriotism  in  the 
war  for  national  existence."7 

The  campaign  of  1862  in  Michigan  cannot  be  called 
an  " educative"  campaign.  Ridicule  and  abuse  were 
greatly  relied  upon  by  both  sides.  No  distinct  issue, 
other  than  the  reelection  of  Mr.  Chandler,  divided  the 
parties.  Mr.  Chandler,  as  a  leading  member  of  the 
Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  was  denounced 
for  the  defeats  of  the  Union  arms  and  assailed  as  the 
author  of  the  "Blood  letter."  On  September  17, 
1862,  Mr.  Chandler  wrote  to  Lyman  Trumbull,8 

"I  want  you  to  give  me  as  much  of  the  month  of 
October  as  possible.  I  am  all  right  if  we  carry  the 
State,  but  the  Browning- Co  wan  faction  are  trying  to 
get  up  an  anti-confiscation,  no-party  union  with  the 
Locos.  We  shall  take  solid  [?]  ground  upon  Con 
fiscation  &  the  use  of  all  the  elements  which  God  and 
Nature  have  placed  in  our  hands  to  crush  the  Re 
bellion.  Come  directly  to  my  house.  I  will  pay  all 
expenses." 

7.  Port  Huron  Press,   as  quoted  in  Detroit  Advertiser  and 

Tribune,  November  14,  1862. 

8.  MS  letter,  Trumbull  Papers,  Library  of  Congress. 


SECOND   ELECTION   TO   U-    S.   SENATE  67 

The  Republicans  denounced  fusion  as  "secession  in 
disguise"  and  advocated  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
war.  The  battle  of  Antietam  and  the  publication  of 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation  were  hailed  with  joy 
by  the  radicals  and  undoubtedly  helped  them  to  carry 
the  election.  On  November  9,  Mr.  Chandler  wrote 
to  a  close  friend,  Charles  T.  Gorham,  of  Marshall, 
Calhoun  County,  Michigan: 

"Detroit,  Nov.  9th,  1862. 
"Hon.  Chas.  T.  Gorham, 

"My  Dear  Sir:  You  have  done  nobly  in  Calhoun. 
I  wish  I  could  say  so  much  for  Wayne,  but  here  we  have 
had  Secret  Conservatism,  Democracy  &  the  Devil  to 
contend  with  &  they  [?]  were  too  much  for  us.  The 
Catholic  Church  was  solid  against  us  and  at  least 
4-5ths  of  the  Episcopal.  Still  we  were  never  so  strong 
in  the  State  as  we  are  to-day.  If  the  President  will 
now  order  on  the  columns  and  close  the  war  before 
spring  as  he  can  there  will  be  no  resurrection  for  Secret 
Sympathizers  or  Conservatives  after  the  soldiers  return. 
I  go  to  Washington  tomorrow  evening  &  I  shall  express 
my  views  mildly  to  Father  Abraham.  Shall  be  absent 
only  a  week. 

"Very  truly  yours, 

"Z.  CHANDLER." 

When  the  Legislature  met  in  January,  1863,  the 
first  business  was  the  election  of  a  Senator.  The  Re 
publican  press  argued  that  since  the  reelection  of 
Senator  Chandler  was  the  main  issue  in  the  election 
of  1862,  the  result  of  the  election  was  to  be  interpreted 


68  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

as  expressing  the  popular  will  that  Mr.  Chandler 
should  again  be  sent  to  the  Senate.9  Mr.  Chandler 
was  on  hand  in  Lansing  personally  directing  his  sub 
ordinates  and  superintending  his  interests.  His  lobby 
was  immense,  including  nearly  every  federal  office 
holder  in  the  State  from  the  army  of  collectors  and 
assessors  to  petty  postmasters  from  the  rural  districts. 
The  nomination  of  Mr.  Chandler  by  an  open  unani 
mous  vote  upon  the  first  informal  ballot  in  the  Re 
publican  caucus10  is  most  convincing  evidence  of  his 
political  power  and  the  efficiency  of  his  political 
methods.11 

James  F.  Joy  of  Detroit,  a  conservative  Republican 
and  a  boyhood  friend  of  Mr.  Chandler,  was  nominated 
by  the  Fusionists.  Mr.  Joy  was  not  present  in  Lansing. 
He  did  not  want  the  nomination  and  though  he  could 
not  decline  it  until  after  the  election,  owing  to  the  lack 
of  telegraphic  communication  between  Detroit  and 
Lansing,  he  undoubtedly  would  have  done  so  if  it  had 
been  possible.  He  had  written  an  "  Address  to  the 
Legislature"12  which,  printed  in  pamphlet  form,  was 

9.    Advertiser  and  Tribune,  January  6,  1863. 

10.  Free  Press,  Jan.  9,  1863,  The  Advertiser  and  Tribune,  Jan. 

10,  said :  "  It  is  safe  to  affirm  that  at  least  in  the  North 
ern  States  no  man  was  ever  sent  to  Washington  as  Sen 
ator  by  a  unanimous  vote  upon  the  first  informal 
caucus  ballot." 

11.  The  Free  Press,  Jan.  7,  1863,  states  that  Mr.  Chandler  was 

so  confident  of  his  reelection  that  he  shipped  the  cham 
pagne  for  his  Senatorial  dinner  to  Lansing  before  the 
Repxiblican  caucus  had  even  met  to  nominate  him. 
Whether  true  or  not,  this  story  might  just  as  well  be  true 
so  far  as  Mr.  Chandler's  confidence  in  his  reelection  is 
concerned.  '  „ 

12.    This  address  is  printed  in  full  in  the  Free  Press,  January 
10,  1863. 


SECOND   ELECTION   TO   U.   S-   SENATE  6fr 

laid  upon  the  desks  of  members  of  the  Legislature  the 
morning  of  the  Senatorial  election.  In  this  he  charged 
Mr.  Chandler  and  the  radicals  with  unduly  meddling 
in  military  affairs  and  thereby  causing  the  failure  of 
the  Peninsular  campaign  and  other  defeats  of  the 
Union  armies.  He  arraigned  Mr.  Chandler  for  al 
lowing  his  organ,  the  Detroit  Advertiser,  to  accept  a 
challenge  from  the  Free  Press  to  make  the  reelection 
of  Mr.  Chandler  to  the  Senate  the  issue  in  the  cam- 
paign  of  1862. 

The  radicals  gave  the  conservatives  no  time  to  allow 
the  arguments  in  this  pamphlet  to  exert  an  influence 
on  the  members  of  the  Legislature.  Through  adroit 
parliamentary  tactics,13  which  included  a  vigorous  use 
of  the  previous  question,  the  Senatorial  election  was 
pushed  through  both  houses  by  the  Republican  ma 
jority  without  delay14  and  on  January  8,  the  second 
day  of  the  session,  the  Legislature  in  joint  convention 
declared  Zachariah  Chandler  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate  for  another  term  of  six  years. 

13.  For  an  interesting  account  of  these,  see  letter  from  Lansing 

Correspondent  in  Free  Press,  January  13,  1863. 

14.  The  vote  in  the  House  was — 

Chandler        60 

Jas.  F.  Joy  34 

S.  L.  Withey  1 


60  to  35 

The  vote  in  the  Senate  was — 
Chandler        1.8 

Joy  11 

Felch  2 

Wells  1 


18  to  14 


CHAPTER  IX 
IN  THE  SENATE,  1863  AND  1864 

bill  to  provide  a  national  currency  based  on 
United  States  bonds  received  Mr.  Chandler's 
hearty  support.  On  February  11,  1863,  he  said  in  the 
Senate  i1  "  This  is  a  part  of  the  great  financial  question 
which  is  in  my  judgment  the  great  question  in  the 
conduct  of  the  war.  If  we  can  keep  our  finances 
sound,  if  we  can  create  a  demand  for  our  bonds,  if  we 
can  keep  our  Treasury  supplied,  we  know  and  all  the 
world  knows,  that  we  can  put  down  this  rebellion. 
If  our  finances  fail,  the  nation  fails.  I  believe  that  all 
there  is  in  this  bill  is  good.  In  the  first  place,  if  it 
accomplishes  anything,  it  produces  a  demand  for  your 
Government  securities.  .  .  .Again,  it  supplies  you  with 
a  better  currency  than  the  local  banks  now  furnish. 
It  furnishes  the  people  with  a  currency  based  upon 
United  States  stocks,  whereas  the  circulation  of  the 

New  England  banks  is  based  upon  nothing I  had 

hoped  that  the  New  England  banks  and  the  other 
eastern  banks  that  have  been  flooding  the  West  with 
their  paper  for  some  years  past,  would  be  sufficiently 
patriotic  to  come  in  and  take  these  bonds ....  Sir,  it 

is  true that  they  do  send  their  circulation  out 

west ;  and  we  do  not  thank  them  for  it ....  We  prefer 
that  the  Government  should  occupy  this  vacuum 
which  is  to-day  filled  by  these  Eastern  banks.  This 

1.    Globe,  3rd  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  877. 


IN  U.   S.   SENATE   1863-64  71 

is  a  question  of  whether  you  will  legislate  for  a  few 
petty  banks  in  New  England  or  whether  you  will 
legislate  for  the  preservation  of  this  great  nation. 
That  is  the  question  you  are  voting  on  now.  Sir,  I 
will  sacrifice  banks  and  negroes  and  everything  else  to 
save  this  nation;  and  I  trust  the  Senate  is  equally 
patriotic." 

As  a  Western  business  man,  Mr.  Chandler  had 
suffered  from  the  flood  of  bank  paper,  much  of  it  from 
New  England,  which  circulated  in  his  State.  In  sup 
porting  this  bill  he  was  not  only  working  for  the 
"Union,  but  more  particularly  he  was  the  champion 
of  the  debtor  Northwest  against  the  banking  interests 
of  the  Northeast.  The  Detroit  Advertiser  and  Tribune, 
June  21,  1864  said:  "Last  Saturday  was  pay-day  for 

the  employees  of  the  Advertiser  and  Tribune the 

bills  of  66  State  banks  were  employed  in  the  payment 
of  not  quite  $400.00.  The  only  Michigan  bill  was  a 
Michigan  Insurance  'one/  With  very  few  exceptions 
each  bank  was  represented  by  but  one  bill." 

In  urging  the  passage  of  the  Currency  bill  the  paper 
continued:  "Let  us  have  the  uniform  National  system 

Let  us  no  longer  be  compelled  to  remember  from 

whom  it  was  we  received  each  bill  in  our  possession  or 
to  rush  to  our  bankers  with  each  half  dozen  bills  we 
take  to  ascertain  their  genuineness  and  value  or  to 
deposit  them  lest  they  should  spoil  upon  our  hands." 

Mr.  Chandler  favored  a  prohibition  tax  by  the 
National  Government  upon  State  bank  note  circula 
tion2  and  opposed  State  and  local  taxation  of  bank 

2.     Globe,  3rd  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  929. 


72  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

stocks  invested  in  United  States  bonds.3  Upon  the 
constitutional  question  involved  he  said:  "Sir,  I  have 
not  got  the  Constitution  on  the  brain ....  I  believe  that 
it  is  constitutional  to  do  whatever  is  requisite  to  save 
the  Constitution  and  the  Government." 

On  February  19,  1863,  Mr.  Chandler  introduced  a 
bill4  to  provide  for  the  collection  of  abandoned  property 
in  insurrectionary  districts,  for  the  purchase  of  staples 
— cotton — by  Treasury  agents  and  the  prevention  of 
frauds  in  connection  with  property  captured  or  bought 
in  the  Southern  States  by  officers  in  the  Army,  Navy 
or  Treasury  Department.  During  the  debate  on  this 
bill  Mr.  Chandler  defended  General  Butler  against 
a  charge  brought  by  Senator  Davis  that  he,  Butler, 
had  connived  with  his  brother  to  seize  abandoned 
property  in  Louisiana  for  private  gain.5  To  an  ob 
jection  that  the  bill  was  unjust  to  rebels  and  uncon 
stitutional  Mr.  Chandler  replied :6  "A  rebel  has  sacri 
ficed  all  his  rights.  He  has  no  right  to  life,  liberty  or 
the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

The  following  letter  was  written  by  Mr.  Chandler 
to  Lyman  Trumbull:7 

"Detroit,  August  6th,  1863. 
"Hon.  Lyman  Trumbull, 

"My  Dear  Sir: 

"We  have  in  my  judgment  reached  the  critical  period 
of  the  war.  Had  Meade  captured  Lee's  artillery  as 
I  think  he  should  have  done,  the  fighting  would  have 

3.  Globe,  1st  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  1872. 

4.  Globe,  3rd  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  1090. 

5.  Feb.  27,  1863,  Globe,  3rd  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  1334. 

6.  Globe,  3rd  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  1338. 

7.  MS  letter,  Trumbull  Papers,  Library  of  Congress. 


IN  U.   S.   SENATE   1863-64  73 

been  ended,  or  in  other  words  the  last  great  battle  of 
the  war  would  have  been  fought.  Now  we  must  fight 
one  more  tremendous  battle  &  if  we  are  successful  the 
bubble  will  burst.  Are  we  quite  ready?  The  Slavery 
question  is  settling  itself  with  great  rapidity.  Every 
negro  regiment  of  a  thousand  men  presents  just  one 
thousand  unanswerable  arguments  against  the  revoca 
tion  of  the  President's  proclamation  &  every  fight 
wherein  a  negro  regiment  distinguishes  itself  by 

desperate  valour  as  at  Port  Hudson  and [?]  adds 

fourfold  to  their  number  and  weight.  Our  armies  are 
greatly  reduced  by  the  returning  9  mos.  &  two  years 
men  so  much  so  that  I  am  not  quite  sure  the  enemy 
may  not  mass  his  forces  &  give  us  a  repulse  in  some 
quarter  although  I  trust  we  shall  guard  against  them. 
I  don't  anticipate  much  activity  during  the  month  of 
August  anywhere  unless  a  battle  should  be  precipitated 
at  or  near  Culpepper,  which  I  do  not  anticipate,  in  the 
meantime  the  draft  is  going  on.  Our  broken  regiments 
are  filled  up  &  negro  brigades  &  divisions  are  being 
added  with  great  rapidity.  Stanton  assured  me  4 
weeks  ago  to-day  that  we  should  have  100,000  negro 
troops  in  the  field  within  60  days  from  that  date.  I 
have  little  fear  that  the  President  will  recede.  He  is 
stubborn  as  a  mule  when  he  gets  his  back  up  &  it  is 
up  now  on  the  proclamation.  Seward  &  Weed  are 
shaky  [?]  but  this  peculiar  trait  of  stubbornness 
(which  annoyed  us  so  much  18  months  ago)  is  now 
our  Salvation.  I  shall  remain  here  during  this  month 
&  should  be  glad  to  see  you  here,  present  my  kind 
regards  to  Mrs.  Trumbull  &  believe  me 

"Very  truly  yours, 

"Z.  CHANDLER." 


74  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

In  September8  Mr.  Chandler  went  to  Ohio  to  stump 
the  State.  A.  G.  Riddle  writes:9  '"I  met  Senator 
Chandler  at  Painesville  early  in  September  and  he 
offered  to  accompany  me.  He  had  a  single  well  worn 
and  easy  going  speech,  not  very  long,  which  always 
closed  with  a  phillipic  against  England." 

The  election  being  over,  "  Senator  Zachariah 
Chandler10 having  seen  in  the  newspapers  a  para 
graph  that  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  and  Governor  Morgan 
had  been  in  consultation  with  the  President  in  regard 
to  his  message,11  wrote  a  vehement  letter  to  the  Presi 
dent  telling  him  that  there  was  a  'patriotic  organiza 
tion  in  all  the  free  and  border  states,  containing  to-day 
over  one  million  of  voters,  every  man  of  whom  is  your 
friend  upon  the  radical  measures  of  your  Administra 
tion;  but  there  is  not  a  Seward,  Weed  or  Blair  man 
among  them  all.  'How  are  these  men,'  he  asked 
'to  be  of  service  to  you  in  any  way?  They  are  a 
millstone  about  your  neck.  You  drop  them  and  they 

are  politically  ended  forever Conservatives  and 

traitors  are  buried  together.  For  God's  sake  don't 
exhume  their  remains  in  your  message.  They  will 
smell  worse  than  Lazarus  did  after  he  had  been  buried 
seven  days.'  There  was  no  man  slower  than  Mr. 
Lincoln  to  take  personal  offence  at  even  the  most 
indiscreet  advice  or  censure;  but  he  answered  this 
letter  of  Mr.  Chandler  in  a  tone  of  unusual  dignity 

8.  The  14th,  according  to  letter  of  Z.  Chandler  to  C.  L.  Miller, 

Sept.  13,  MS  letter  in  State  Capitol  at  Lansing. 

9.  Riddle,  Recollections  of  War  Times,  p.  233. 

10.  Nicolay  &  Hay,  A.  Lincoln,  A  History,  VII,  388. 

11.  The  letter  was  dated  Nov.  15,  1863,  (note  of  N.  &  H.). 


IN  U.   S.   SENATE   1863-64  75 

and  severity.12  'I  have  seen/  he  said,  'Governor 
Morgan  and  Thurlow  Weed  separately,  but  not  to 
gether,  within  the  last  ten  days;  but  neither  of  them 
mentioned  the  forthcoming  message  or  said  anything, 
so  far  as  I  can  remember,  which  brought  the  thought 
of  the  message  to  my  mind.  I  am  very  glad  the 
elections  this  autumn  have  gone  favorably  and  that 
I  have  not  by  native  depravity  or  under  evil  influences 
done  anything  bad  enough  to  prevent  the  good  result. 
I  hope  to  'stand  firm'  enough  to  not  go  backward,  and 
yet  not  go  forward  enough  to  wreck  the  country's 


cause.' 


Mr.  Lincoln's  message  of  December  8,  1863,  was 
entirely  satisfactory  to  Mr.  Chandler.  John  Hay 
wrote  in  his  diary,13  "  Chandler  was  delighted."  It 
was  in  this  message  that  the  President  outlined  his 
plan  of  reconstruction. 

In  January,  1864,  Mr.  Chandler14  spoke  against 
an  amendment  to  the  Enrollment  Act  to  allow  com 
mutation  of  military  service  by  a  money  payment— 
"If  you  want  $150.00  and  do  not  want  men,  vote  for 
the  amendment.  If  you  want  men,  do  away  with  the 
exemption  entirely  and  have  your  men  come  up  or 
furnish  substitutes.  I  am  opposed  to  this  whole 
theory  of  commutation.  The  Government  wants  men 
not  money." 

On  April  15,  1864,  speaking  in  favor  of  the  bill  to 
prohibit  speculation  in  gold15,  Mr.  Chandler  said: 
"The  price  of  gold  is  on  the  point  of  Grant's  bayonets 

12.  Dated  November  20,  1863. 

13.  N.  and  H.,  Lincoln,  IX,  109. 

14.  Jan.  16,  1864,  Globe,  1st  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  251-252. 

15.  April  15,  1864,  Globe,  1st  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  1644. 


76  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

...  and  when  Grant  strikes  the  first  crushing  blow  at 
Lee,  as  he  certainly  will  within  60  days  from  to-day, 
you  will  see  such  a  trouble  in  gold  as  the  world  never 

witnessed  before I  believe  this  rebellion  is  on  its 

last  legs." 

Mr.  Chandler's  enthusiasm  for  the  Northwest  some 
times  led  him  into  amusing  and  extravagant  state 
ments.  During  the  debate  on  the  tax  bill  he  said:16 
"We  have  a  foreign  trade.  We  have  a  regular  line 
from  Detroit  to  Europe.  There  are  just  as  regular 
lines  between  Detroit  and  Liverpool  as  there  are  be 
tween  New  York  and  Liverpool  only  there  are  not 
quite  so  many  of  them." 

Mr.  Chandler's  hostility  towards  rebels  was  only 
exceeded  by  his  hatred  of  the  Copperheads  of  the 
Northwest.  On  one  occasion,  while  dining  with 
friends  at  the  National  Hotel  in  Washington,  Mr. 
Chandler  denounced  in  very  strong  terms  Copperheads 
in  general  and  especially  those  of  the  West.17  Ac 
cording  to  the  newspaper  account  of  the  affair,  "  Voor- 
hees,  of  Indiana,18  who  was  sitting  at  another  table 
in  company  with  Hannegan,  also  of  Indiana,  arose 
from  his  seat,  approached  Chandler  in  an  excited 
manner  demanding  whether  he  referred  to  him,  to 
which  Chandler  replied,  'Who  are  you,  Sir,  I  don't 
know  you,1  at  the  same  time  rising  from  his  chair. 
Voorhees  replied,  ll  am  Voorhees,  of  Indiana,'  and 
suiting  his  action  to  the  word,  struck  Chandler  on  the 

16.  May  26,  1864,  Globe,  1st  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  2494. 

17.  New  York    Times,    May   27,    1864,    (Townsend   Library, 

XLIV,  459). 

18.  "Dan"  Voorhees,  then  member  of  the  House  of  Repre 

sentatives. 


IN   U.   S.   SENATE   1863-64  77 

side  of  the  face.  The  two  then  closed,  and  the  Senator 
was  rapidly  getting  the  better  of  Voorhees,  when 
Hannegan  came  to  the  latter's  assistance  with  a  heavy 
milk  pitcher,  snatched  from  the  table,  which  he  broke 
on  Chandler's  head.  The  contents  of  the  pitcher 
splashed  over  the  whole  company.  Chandler  was 
stunned  by  the  blow,  and  had  not  fully  recovered  him 
self  when  Hannegan  dealt  him  a  second  blow  with  & 
chair.  At  this  juncture  parties  present  interfered, 
and  the  belligerents  were  separated.  Chandler's  head 
was  slightly  cut  by  the  pitcher,  and  his  shoulder  and 
arm  considerably  bruised  by  the  chair.  Though  not 
able  to  close  his  hand,  he  has  been  out  to-day  attending 
to  his  usual  duties."  Mr.  Chandler  as  well  as  Mr. 
Sumner  had  to  suffer  for  expressing  their  opinions  too 
freely. 

On  June  28,  1864,  Mr.  Chandler  made  some  char 
acteristic  remarks19  on  an  amendment  to  Senate  bill 
No.  232  in  regard  to  intercourse  with  "disloyal  States: 
"I  thought  that  death  was  a  light  penalty  for  licensed 
Officers  of  the  Government  who  furnished  the  rebels 

with  military  supplies I  do  not  think  three  years 

is  any  punishment  for  a  man  guilty  of  such  a  crime. 
I  certainly  would  impose  the  death  penalty  and  take 
from  the  President  in  such  a  case  the  pardoning  power, 
if  that  were  possible." 

The  Congressional  plan  of  reconstruction  as  em 
bodied  in  the  Wade-Davis  bill  and  adopted  by  Con 
gress  during  the  closing  hours  of  the  first  session  of 
the  38th  Congress,  was  very  near  to  Mr.  Chandler's 
heart.  His  anxiety  over  the  disposition  of  the  bill 

19.     Cong.  Globe,  1st  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  3324. 


78  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

by   President    Lincoln   is   well   told   in   Nicolay   and 
Hay's  Lincoln — 20 

"Congress  was  to  adjourn  at  noon  on  the  Fourth 
of  July;  the  President  was  in  his  room  at  the  Capitol 
signing  bills;  which  were  laid  before  him  as  they  were 
brought  from  the  two  Houses.  When  this  important 
bill  (Wade-Davis)  was  placed  before  him,  he  laid  it 
aside  and  went  on  with  the  other  work  of  the  moment. 
Several  prominent  members  entered  in  a  state  of  in 
tense  anxiety  over  the  fate  of  the  bill.  Mr.  Sumner 
and  Mr.  Boutwell,  while  their  nervousness  was  evident, 
refrained  from  any  comment.  Zachariah  Chandler, 
who  was  unabashed  in  any  mortal  presence,  roundly 
asked  the  President  if  he  intended  to  sign. the  bill. 
The  President  replied:21  'This  bill  has  been  placed 
before  me  a  few  moments  before  Congress  adjourns. 
It  is  a  matter  of  too  much  importance  to  be  swallowed 
in  that  way.'  'If  it  is  vetoed,'  cried  Mr.  Chandler, 
'it  will  damage  us  fearfully  in  the  Northwest.  The 
important  point  is  that  one  prohibiting  slavery  in  the 
reconstructed  States.'  Mr.  Lincoln  said,  'That  is  the 
point  on  which  I  doubt  the  authority  of  Congress  to 
act.'  'It  is  not  more  than  you  have  done  yourself,' 
said  the  Senator.  The  President  answered,  'I  con 
ceive  that  I  may  in  an  emergency  do  things  on  military 
grounds  which  cannot  be  done  constitutionally  by 
Congress.'  Mr.  Chandler,  expressing  his  deep  chagrin 

went   out   and  the   President said 'this   bill 

and  the  position  of  these  gentlemen  seem  to  me,  in 
asserting  that  the  insurrectionary  States  are  no  longer 

20.  N.  and  H.f  Lincoln,  IX,  120-121. 

21.  Marginal  note  in  N.  and  H.  reads  "  J.  H.  Diary." 


- 


ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER 

From  a  daguerreotype  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Eugene  Hale,  Ells 
worth,  Maine. 


IN  U.   S.   SENATE   1863-64  79 

in  the  Union,  to  make  the  fatal  admission  that  the 
States,  whenever  they  please,  may  of  their  own  motion 
dissolve  their  connection  with  the  Union/ 

The  malcontents  in  the  Republican  party  who  met 
in  convention  at  Cleveland,  May  31,  1864,  and  nomi 
nated  John  C.  Fremont  for  President,  received  no 
support  from  Mr.  Chandler.  The  Cleveland  con 
vention22  was  founded  upon  issues  both  conservative 
and  radical.  It  was  conservative  in  its  denunciation 
of  the  violations  of  the  rights  of  free  speech,  free 
press  and  habeas  corpus  in  districts  where  martial  law 
had  not  been  proclaimed.  With  complaints  of  such 
violations  Mr.  Chandler  had  little  sympathy.  He 
was  radical  on  every  measure  for  putting  down  the 
rebellion,  and  infringements  upon  the  constitutional 
rights  of  individuals,  if  necessary  to  this  end,  were 
in  his  opinion  not  only  justifiable  but  praiseworthy. 
The  confiscation  plank  in  the  Cleveland  platform  was 
radical,  but  Fremont  repudiated  it  in  his  letter  of 
acceptance.  The  plank  for  a  constitutional  amend 
ment  to  prohibit  the  re-establishment  of  slavery  and 
"to  secure  the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law" 
was  no  more  radical  than  a  similar  plank  in  the  Balti 
more  platform,  except  for  the  last  clause.  The  Cleve 
land  men  denounced  the  Administration  for  "man 
aging  the  war  for  personal  ends."  Mr.  Chandler  was 
a  practical  politician  and  a  firm  believer  in  such  a  dis 
tribution  of  the  patronage  as  would  maintain  the  Re 
publican  party  in  power.  Furthermore,  Mr.  Chandler 
was  thoroughly  identified  with  the  past  conduct  of 

22.     For  documents  pertaining  to  this  convention  see  Apple- 
ton's  Annual  Encyclopaedia,  1864,  p.  786. 


80  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

the  war — a  criticism  upon  it  was  a  reflection  upon  him 
as  well  as  upon  Mr.  Lincoln.  But  above  all  else,  Mr. 
Chandler  was  one  of  the  "ins,"  not  the  "outs."  He 
was  receiving  a  generous  share  of  the  federal  patronage 
from  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  thereby  strengthening  his  own 
power  in  Michigan.  For  him  to  have  cast  aside  these 
advantages  and  thrown  in  his  lot  with  a  coterie  of 
discontented  men  who  had  nothing  to  lose  and  every 
thing  to  gain  would  have  been  Quixotic  and  unwise 
and  entirely  foreign  to  every  political  policy  and 
sentiment  upon  which  Mr.  Chandler  was  ever  known 
to  act.23 

According  to  the  Post  and  Tribune  "Life,"24  Mr. 
Chandler  induced  Fremont  to  withdraw  from  the 
contest  and  secured  the  support  of  Wade  and  Davis 

23.  H.  M.  Dilla,  Politics  of  Michigan,  1865-1878,  p.  35,  speaking 

of  Chandler's  attitude  towards  the  Cleveland  Convention, 
says:  "It  would  be  expected  from  temperament  and 
past  convictions  that  Chandler  would  have  thrown  his 
influence  with  the  opponent  of  Lincoln,  in  the  interest 
of  a  more  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war.  This  was  not 
the  case,  however,  for  he  labored  steadfastly  in  behalf  of 
Lincoln  and  he  was  among  those  who  effected  the  with 
drawal  of  Fremont.  The  motive  for  -this  action  is  not 
evident." 

I  cannot  agree  with  Miss  Dilla  on  this  point.  Chandler's 
attitude  seems  to  me  to  have  been  the  natural  and  in 
deed  the  only  possible  position  for  him  to  take  under  the 
circumstances.  So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  discover, 
the  Cleveland  Convention  received  little  support  from 
Michigan  Republicans.  The  Detroit  Advertiser  and 
Tribune  opposed  it  openly  and  the  Free  Press  gives  no 
information  tending  to  show  a  strong  movement  in  its 
favor  in  Michigan.  The  Free  Press,  being  Democratic, 
would  naturally  show  up  the  weakness  of  the  Michigan 
Republicans  if  they  were  actually  divided  by  the  Cleve 
land  Convention. 

24.  Chapter  XV. 


IN  U.   S.   SENATE   1863-64  81 

for  Mr.  Lincoln.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  Mr.  Chandler's  influence  was  potent  in  healing 
the  breach  in  the  Republican  ranks. 

During  the  campaign  Mr.  Chandler  spoke  in  Indiana, 
Connecticut,  New  Jersey  and  New  York  and  made  an 
extended  speaking  tour  in  Michigan.  In  his  own 
State  he  found  himself  in  thorough  rapport  with  the 
people.  Particularly  in  the  country  districts  men, 
women  and  children  came  five,  ten  and  even  twenty 
miles  to  hear  him,  and  it  was 'no  unusual  thing,  par 
ticularly  in  the  new  counties  in  the  northwestern  part 
of  the  State,  for  stores  to  close,  sawmills  to  shut  down, 
farm  labor  to  be  suspended  and  almost  the  whole 
population  to  turn  out  to  the  Republican  meetings.25 

The  result  of  the  election  was  a  Republican  victory 
in  Michigan.  Lincoln  received26  79,149  votes  ex- 
lucsive  of  a  " soldiers  vote"  of  9,402;  McClellan  re 
ceived  68,513  exclusive  of  a  "soldiers  vote"  of  2,959. 

25.  Advertiser  and  Tribune,  Oct.  29,  1864. 

26.  Michigan  Manual. 

11 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  YEARS  1865-66 

]\TR.  Chandler's  hatred  of  Great  Britain  fell  little 
short  of  a  mild  form  of  mania  on  the  subject. 
For  years,  upon  the  stump  and  in  the  Senate,  he  never 
failed  to  " twist  the  lion's  tail,"  upon  every  possible 
occasion.  He  attacked  Great  Britain  for  issuing  the 
Neutrality  Proclamation,  for  lax  enforcement  of  her 
neutrality  laws  in  the  matter  of  Confederate  cruisers, 
and  for  harboring  rebels  in  Canada  and  allowing  raids 
across  the  border  into  the  territory  of  the  United 
States. 

There  was  in  fact  considerable  uneasiness  in  Detroit 
during  the  war  over  the  possibility  of  an  attack  upon 
the  city  by  the  Confederates  and  their  sympathizers 
living  just  across  the  river  in  Windsor,  Canada,  and  no 
doubt  Mr.  Chandler  shared  in  the  feeling.  But  Mr. 
Chandler  was  by  nature  an  intense  partisan.  In  de 
fending  Michigan  he  would  revile  New  England  and 
New  York;  in  defending  the  North  he  would  castigate 
the  South ;  as  a  loyal  Republican  he  would  flay  Copper 
heads,  and  as  an  American  he  took  delight  in  berating 
Great  Britain.  As  a  stump  speaker  Mr.  Chandler 
relied  in  large  measure  upon  vituperation  and  a  certain 
rough,  coarse  humor.  He  was  a  powerful  man  physi 
cally,  as  tall  as  Lincoln  and  in  his  later  years  con 
siderably  heavier.  He  possessed  tremendous  nervous 
energy  and  when  he  spoke  to  a  political  audience  he 


THE  YEARS   1865-66  83 

used  every  ounce  of  it.  In  denouncing  the  sins  of 
Great  Britain  he  was  at  his  best,  and  the  flood  of 
vituperation  and  abuse  that  he  poured  forth  was^ 
laughed  at  and  highly  enjoyed  by  the  majority  of  his 
constituents.  We  demand  rather  more  refinement 
in  our  political  speeches  to-day,  but  fifty  years  ago 
Zachariah  Chandler  was  one  of  the  most  effective 
stump  speakers  in  the  Northwest. 

It  is  possible  that  Mr.  Chandler  had  a  political 
motive:  he  may  have  hoped  to  divert  attention  from 
party  dissensions  at  home  by  attacking  a  foreign 
power  and  again  giving  the  Republican  party  an  op 
portunity  to  call  itself  the  party  of  patriots  and  stig 
matize  its  opponents  as  traitors  to  their  country. 
But  after  all,  it  seems  to  have  been  with  him  a  sort  of 
mania. 

As  early  as  June  16,  1864,  in  a  speech  in  the  Senate, 
Mr.  Chandler  declared:1  "If  I  had  my  way,  I  would 
raise  a  wall  of  fire  between  this  nation  and  Great 

Britain She  has  sent  out  cruisers,  English  ships, 

built  of  English  timber,  manned  with  Englishmen, 
provisioned  with  English  provisions,  sailing  under 
British  colors,  to  prey  upon  our  commerce,  until  she 
has  virtually  driven  it  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Sir, 
I  am  prepared  to-day  to  say  to  Great  Britain,  'Pay  that 
bill,  principal  and  interest,  or  there  shall  be  no  com- 
merical  intercourse  between  you  and  us  until  that  bill 
is  paid/  and  if  she  did  not  pay  the  bill,  and  England 
got  into  war  with  any  power  on  earth,  I  do  not  care  if 
it  was  the  King  of  Dahomey,  I  would  let  loose  a  fleet 
of  fast  sailing  steamers  that  should  make  her  drink  the 

1.    Globe,  1st  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  3008. 


84  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER 

cup  to  the  dregs I  would  let  private  individuals 

take  out  letters  of  marque,   and   I   would   let  them 
drive  the  English  flag  from  the  seas  as  she  has  driven 


ours." 


The  report  of  the  release  of  the  St.  Albans  raiders 
by  the  Canadian  authorities,  for  want  of  jurisdiction, 
was  published  in  the  newspaper,  December  14,  1864. 
Mr.  Chandler  that  same  morning  introduced  two 
resolutions2  in  the  Senate  which  for  undiplomatic 
language  could  hardly  be  exceeded.  The  first  one 
read: 

"  Whereas the  people  of  the  British  Provinces 

seem  disposed  to  protect  these  thieves,  robbers,  in 
cendiaries,  pirates  and  murderers,  not  only  in  their 
individual  capacity  but  by  the  quibbles  of  the  law: 
Therefore,  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Military 
Affairs  be  directed  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of 
immediately  enlisting  an  Army  Corps  to  watch  and 
defend  our  territory  bordering  on  the  lakes." 

Objection  being  made,  Mr.  Chandler  offered  a  sec 
ond  resolution,  which  after  a  long  preamble  instructed 
the  Secretary  of  State  to  compute  the  damages  due 
from  Great  Britain  for  allowing  the  Confederate 
cruisers  to  escape,  and  to  " demand"  from  the  British 
Government  payment  in  full  with  interest  at  6%. 

Upon  the  subject  of  retaliation  upon  rebel  prisoners 
for  cruelties  suffered  by  Union  soldiers  in  Southern 
prisons,  Mr.  Chandler  was  radical.  His  colleague  in 
the  Senate,  J.  M.  Howard,  introduced  a  bill  upon  the 
subject  and  on  January  30,  1865,  Mr.  Chandler  spoke 
in  favor  of  it — 3 


2.  Cong.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  33-34. 

3.  Cong.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  496-497. 


THE  YEARS   1865-66  85 

"I  shall  vote  for  this  measure  of  retaliation,  and 
for  any  measure  of  retaliation  that  promises  to  be 
effective.     Ay,   Sir,    I   will   carry  it  to  the   point   of 
starvation.  .  .  ...I  will  carry  it  to  the  stake  and  I  will 

carry  it  to  any  extent  that  is  necessary  to  preserve  the 
lives  of  those  helpless  and  suffering  prisoners  now 
dying  by  thousands  in  the  hands  of  these  accursed, 
hellish  rebels." 

No  doubt  the  testimony  before  the  Committee  on 
the  Conduct  of  the  War  on  the  subject  of  the  treat 
ment  accorded  Union  soldiers  in  Southern  prisons  and 
elsewhere  had  much  to  do  in  arousing  an  intense  de 
sire  for  retaliation  in  Chandler  and  Wade.  Upon  this 
point  Chandler  said:1  "The  Committee  on  the  Con 
duct  of  the  War  has  been  laboring  for  years  to  induce 
the  Administration  to  adopt  the  system  of  retaliation; 
but  the  labor  has  been  fruitless.  A  year  ago,  when 
that  committee  was  directed  to  investigate  the  con 
dition  of  the  returned  prisoners  then  arriving  at 
Annapolis,  we  found  that  language  failed  to  convey 
to  the  mind  a  correct  idea  of  the  condition  of  these 
men,  and  we  were  compelled,  in  order  to  give  even 
an  approximate  idea  of  the  treatment  our  prisoners 
had  received,  to  have  photographs5  of  those  skeletons 
before  the  people  of  the  United  States,  that  they  might 
realize  the  barbarities  that  had  been  perpetrated  upon 
them.  We  then  hoped  and  believed  that  the  Ad 
ministration  would  adopt,  and  adopt  immediately,  a 

4.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  496. 

5.  For  these  pictures  see  Report  of  Committee  on  the  Con 

duct  of  the  War,  House  Report,  No.  67,  1st  Sess.  38th 
Cong. 


86  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

system  of  retaliation  that  would  prove  efficacious, 
In  that  hope  we  were  disappointed." 

Sumner,  Wilson,  Trurnbull  and  other  radicals  op 
posed  Mr.  Howard's  bill.  Mr.  Chandler  pronounced 
Mr.  Surnner's  substitute6  "a  sublimated  specimen  of 
humanitarianism. '  '7 

In  February  the  joint  resolution  to  recognize  the 
State  of  Louisiana  came  up  in  the  Senate.8  The 
radicals  were  divided  on  the  measure  but  Sumner, 
Wade  and  Chandler  were  able  by  dilatory  motions  ta 
defeat  its  passage. 

After  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  some 
of  the  members  of  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct 
of  the  War  called  upon  President  Johnson  who  assured 
them  that  in  his  opinion  treason  was  a  crime  that 
must  be  made  odious,  traitors  must  be  punished  and 
impoverished,  and  loyal  men  must  be  remunerated 
from  the  pockets  of  those  who  had  brought  on  the  re 
bellion.9  Such  sentiments  delighted  Mr.  Chandler 
and  his  associates.  Andrew  Johnson  had  served  with 
Mr..  Chandler  on  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of 
the  War,  and  they  had  long  been  political  and  personal 

6.  Stunner's    amendment    to    the    joint    resolution    advising 

retaliation  for  the  cruel  treatment  of  prisoners  by  the 
insurgents  would  strike  out  all  after  the  resolving  clause 

of  the  resolution  and  insert  the  following:     " 

That  any  attempted  imitation  of  rebel  barbarism  in  the 
treatment  of  prisoners ....  being ....  impracticable,  use 
less,  immoral  and  degrading,  it  must  be  rejected  as  a 
measure  of  retaliation.  ..." 

Globe,  2nd  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  381. 

7.  Cong.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  496-497. 

8.  Upon  this,  see  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  IX,  454. 

9.  Speech  in  Detroit,  Nov.  3,  1866.     See  Detroit  Post,  Nov. 

5,  1866. 


THE  YEARS   1865-66  87 

-v 

friends.  Mr.  Chandler  loved  a  friend  and  hated  an 
enemy  with  singular  blindness  to  the  faults  of  the  one 
and  the  merits  of  the  other.  He  was  slow  to  turn 
against  his  former  friend  Andrew  Johnson.  All  through 
the  Session  of  1865-66  Mr.  Chandler,  although  he 
voted  with  the  radicals,  maintained  silence  upon  the 
important  measures  of  reconstruction  which  were  de 
bated  in  the  Senate.  As  early  as  May  2,  1865,  the 
Free  Press  commented  upon  the  silence  of  Sumner, 
Wade  and  Chandler.  In  January,  1866,10  the  same 
paper  announced  that  "the  secret  of  his  [Chandler's] 
remaining  so  quiet  in  the  Senate  thus  far  was  that 
he  had  abandoned  the  radical  faction  and  was  a  warm 
Johnson  man."  Whether  from  political  or  personal 
considerations,  Mr.  Chandler  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  a  leader  of  the  radical  anti-Johnson  men,  until 
the  winter  of  1866-67. 

January  15,  1866,  he  made  a  violent  speech11  against 
Great  Britain  and  offered  a  resolution  requesting  the 
President  to  withdraw  our  Minister  from  the  Court 
of  St.  James  and  to  make  national  proclamation  of 
non-intercourse  on  account  of  the  refusal  of  that 
Government  to  make  reparation  for  damages  inflicted 
upon  our  commerce.  This  resolution  met  with  con 
siderable  ridicule  from  the  newspapers.  The  Chicago 
Tribune  headed  an  editorial  upon  it,  "Senator  Chand 
ler's  Joke."  Mr.  Chandler  in  reply12  wrote  a  letter 
to  the  editors  which  closed: 


10.  Free  Press,  Jan.  6,  1866. 

11.  Cong.  Globe,  1st  Sess.  39th  Cong.,  pp.  226-227. 

12.  For  this  whole  matter  see  New  York  Herald  Feb.  3,  1866. 

(Townsend  Library,  LXIV,  318). 


88  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

"In  conclusion,  Messrs.  Editors,  I  would  say  that 
if  this  be  a  'joke,'  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  Great 
Britain  will  find  it  a  serious  one.  If  she  does  not  pay 
the  bills,  I  shall  push  the  matter  this  year,  next  year 
and  the  year  following  and  if  I  die  before  these  bills 
are  paid  in  full,  satisfactorily  adjusted  or  retaliated 
for,  I  shall  die  pressing  these  claims,  and  shall  leave 
as  a  legacy  to  my  descendants  and  successors  the 
charge  to  prosecute  until  the  claims  are  paid." 

Sumner's  resolution  of  protest  against  the  practice 
of  pardoning  criminals  abroad  on  conditions  that  they 
emigrate  to  the  United  States  called  forth  from  Chand 
ler  some  characteristic  remarks:13 

"If  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  would  put 
anything  that  was  effective  into  his  resolution  I 
should  not  object  to  it;  as,  for  instance,  if  he  would 
declare  that  a  repetition  of  these  acts  would  be  a  just 
cause  of  War,  or  that  we  would  retaliate,  or  something 

more  than  a  simple  protest  by  Congress That 

will  do  for  a  Secretary  of  State ;  it  will  do  for  one  of  the 
servants  of  this  Government;  but  it  is  beneath  the 
dignity  of  this  body  to  pass  such  a  resolution." 

Much  of  Chandler's  work  in  the  Senate  was  con 
nected  with  the  Committee  on  Commerce.  He  was 
for  years  the  Chairman  of  that  important  Committee, 
and  as  a  Western  man  his  influence  was  always  thrown 
in  favor  of  a  broad  interpretation  of  the  interstate 
commerce  clause  of  the  Constitution.  On  March  20, 
1866,  he  spoke14  at  length  in  favor  of  a  bill  to  grant  a 
monopoly  to  induce  a  company  to  lay  an  Atlantic 

13.  Mar.  19,  1866.  Globe,  1st  Sess.  39th  Cong.,  p.  1493. 

14.  Cong,  Globe,  1st  Sess.  39th  Cong.,  p.  1518. 


THE  YEARS  1865-66  89 

cable  between  the  United  States  and  the  West  Indies. 
To  an  objection  that  Congress  had  no  constitutional 
power  to  grant  such  a  monopoly,  Mr.  Chandler  re 
plied:  "This  constitutional  objection  seems  to  me 
very  puerile.  The  Constitution  confers  on  Congress 
the  power  to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations, 
and  among  the  several  States  and  with  the  Indian 
tribes.15  I  should  like  to  know  how  we  can  better 
exercise  the  power  to  regulate  commerce  than  by 
regulating  our  telegraphic  lines  with  foreign  nations." 

In  still  another  instance,  during  the  year  1866,  Mr. 
Chandler  championed  a  liberal  interpretation  of  the 
power  of  Congress  under  the  interstate  commerce 
clause  of  the  Constitution.  A  bill  was  before  the 
Senate  to  build  a  ship-canal  around  the  falls  of  Niagara. 
A  majority  of  the  Committee  on  Commerce  were 
opposed  to  asserting  the  right  of  the  United  States  to 
act  without  permission  from  the  State  of  New  York. 
Michigan  and  the  Northwest  wanted  the  Niagara 
canal  built  to  give  an  outlet  for  their  commerce.  New 
York  opposed  it  because  it  would  take  traffic  from  the 
Erie  Canal.  Mr.  Chandler  said:  "I  believe  the 
Government  possesses  the  power  to  regulate  commerce 
as  it  sees  fit  between  States;  and  I  do  not  believe  that 
the  State  of  New  Jersey  or  the  State  of  New  York  or 
any  other  State  can  raise  an  obstacle  that  shall  inter 
fere  with  the  commercial  relations  between  the  other 
States  of  this  Union." 

The  liberality  of  the  appropriations  for  Michigan, 
which  uniformly  appeared  in  the  River  and  Harbor 
bill  as  it  was  reported  from  the  Commerce  Committee, 

15.     Globe,  1st  Sess.  39th  Cong.,  p.  3456. 


90  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

met  with  a  good  deal  of  comment  from  Mr.  Chandler's 
colleagues  in  the  Senate.  His  efforts  to  obtain  ap 
propriations  for  the  St.  Clair  Flats  were  so  persistent 
and  earnest  that  " Senator  Chandler's  St.  Clair  Flats" 
came  to  be  regaided  as  a  standing  joke  and  were  often 
referred  to  in  debate  to  raise  a  laugh  at  the  Senator's 
expense. 

At  one  time,16  during  the  debate  on  the  Sundry 
Civil  Appropriation  bill,  it  was  proposed  to  deprive 
Michigan  of  two  lights,  one  on  Isle  Royal  and  another 
in  Saginaw  Bay.  Mr.  Chandler's  speech  in  opposition 
to  this  is  characteristic  of  his  championship  of  the 
commercial  interests  of  Michigan— 

"  I  suppose  the  Senator  is  aware  (if  he  is  not,  I  will 
inform  him)  of  the  fact  that  Lake  Superior  is  to-day 
more  rich  in  minerals,  except  gold,  than  California. 
We  have  more  silver  than  California,  and  I  think  more 
than  California  and  Nevada  put  together.  We  have 
not  dug  it  all  out  (laughter)  but  we  are  taking  out 
silver  there  that  yields  four  thousand  to  the  ton,  and 
you  consider  yourselves  very  rich  when  your  ore 
yields  $400.  We  have  the  richest  mines  on  earth, 
and  they  are  very  near  to  this  light,  and  it  is  needed 
for  all  the  commerce — and  it  is  very  great — passing 
to  and  fro — and  it  is  increasing  every  day." 

Mr.  Stewart:  "I  suppose  you  want  a  light  to  find 
the  silver." 

Mr.  Chandler:  "The  light  that  you  now  propose 
to  strike  out  is  the  only  light  on  Saginaw  bay ....  The 
commerce  of  Saginaw  bay  is  perfectly  enormous,  in 
cluding  over  400,000,000  feet  of  lumber  alone  and  some 

16.    Feb.  28,  1873.    Globe,  3rd  Sess.  42nd  Cong.,  p.  1955. 


THE.  YEARS   1865-66  91 

two  or  three  million  barrels  of  salt,  besides  an  enor 
mous  amount  of  other  articles,  and  this  is  the  only 
light  you  have  to  the  other  entrance  to  the  bay." 

The  Senate  succumbed  and  refused  to  accept  the 
amendment  striking  out  the  lights. 

Mr.  Chandler  took  some  part  in  the  debates  on  the 
Tax  bill;  but  as  before  remarked,  though  he  voted 
with  the  radicals,  he  kept  strangely  quiet  upon  recon 
struction  issues.  Jacob  M.  Howard,  however,  was 
outspoken  in  his  hostility  to  President  Johnson. 

The  most  prominent  issue  in  the  campaign  of  1866 
in  Michigan  was  that  of  reconstruction.  The  Demo 
crats  and  Conservative  Republicans  endorsed  Presi 
dent  Johnson's  policy  of  immediately  admitting  into 
Congress  the  Representatives  and  Senators  from 
Southern  States  on  the  theory  that  since  the  Con 
stitution  did  not  recognize  the  right  of  secession  the 
Union  was  still  intact  and  every  State  within  it  had  a 
constitutional  right  to  be  represented  in  Congress. 
The  Republicans,  entirely  under  the  control  of  the 
Radicals,  approved  Congressional  reconstruction  and 
declared  that  the  Southern  States  should  be  entitled 
to  representation  in  Congress  only  after  they  had 
accepted  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  the  most  ob 
jectionable  section  of  which  was  that  the  Southern 
States  should  either  grant  suffrage  to  the  Negro  or 
suffer  a  reduction  in  the  number  of  their  Representa 
tives  proportional  to  the  number  of  Negroes  ex 
cluded. 

The  campaign  was  a  strenuous  one.  The  Con 
servative  Republicans,  calling  themselves  National 
Unionists,  held  a  mass  convention  at  Detroit  on 


92  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

August  9,  drew  up  resolutions  endorsing  Johnson's 
reconstruction  policy  and  elected  delegates  to  the 
national  convention  of  the  Conservative  Republicans 
to  be  held  at  Philadelphia  on  August  1.4.  Just  a  few 
days  before  the  Philadelphia  Convention  the  Demo 
cratic  State  Central  Committee  received  notice  from 
the  National  Unionists  that  a  double  set  of  delegates 
would  be  welcome  at  Philadelphia.  There  being  no 
time  to  call  a  Democratic  Convention,  the  Democratic 
State  Central  Committee  took  the  responsibility  of 
appointing  Democrats  to  attend  the  Philadelphia  Con 
vention.  The  opposition  to  the  Republicans  began  to 
look  formidable.  Among  the  National  Union  delegates 
were  such  prominent  men  as  James  F.  Joy  and  Henry 
Barnes,  the  Detroit  editor.  The  leading  man  among 
the  Democratic  delegates  was  Charles  E.  Stuart, 
former  United  States  Senator  from  Michigan.  The 
National  Unionists  and  the  Democrats  differed  with 
each  other  upon  many  questions,  including  finance, 
taxation,  and  protective  tariff,  but  they  were  a  unit 
upon  the  reconstruction  issue.  In  order  to  win  the 
election  they  agreed  to  act  together.  The  Democrats 
endorsed17  the  State  ticket  nominated  by  the  Michigan 
National  Unionists  and  both  forces  now  presented  a 
solid  front  to  the  Republicans. 

Mr.  Chandler  made  a  vigorous  campaign  in  behalf 
of  the  Republicans  and  came  out  flat-footed  in  op 
position  to  the  President.  In  regard  to  the  question 
whether  the  Southern  States  were  in  or  out  of  the 
Union,  he  said:18 

17.  Detroit  Free  Press,  Sept.  6,  1866. 

18.  Detroit  Post,  Nov.  5,  1866. 


> 


JOHN  ORR 

Brother  of  Margaret  (Orr)  Chandler.    From  a  miniature  in  the  posses 
sion  of  Mrs.  Eugene  Hale,  of  Ellsworth,  Maine. 


THE  YEARS   1865-66  93 

"V 

"The  question  is  rather  a  mythical  one  at  best. 
They  occupied  a  double  relation  to  the  Government; 
first,  they  were  rebels,  and  as  such  were  liable  to  be 

hung  for  treason.  Afterwards the  whole  people 

of  the  South  became  alien  enemies  of  the  Government 
...  .we  conquered  them  finally  and  then  held  them  by 
and  under  the  laws  of  war.  Those  laws  have  changed 
from  age  to  age.  .  .  .but  have  ever,  even  as  late  as 
July,  1866,  permitted  the  conquerors  to  levy  all  the 
expenses  of  the  war  upon  the  conquered." 

He  declared19  that  if  the  Democrats  gained  the 
election  the  holders  of  rebel  script  would  so  " debauch" 
the  Democratic  Congress  that  the  people  would  have 
the  rebel  debt  to  pay.  He  castigated  the  "  Bread  and 
Butter"20  men  of  Michigan  without  mercy,  and  called 
Seward,  who  was  a  leading  member  of  the  National 
Unionists,  morally,  physically  and  intellectually  an 
imbecile  and  a  coward.21  He  approved  the  Four 
teenth  Amendment  but  declared  that  it  did  not  go  far 
enough,  viz.,  to  extend  suffrage  and  equality  to  the 
Negro.22  He  declared  that  President  Johnson  and  the 
Democrats  were  trying  to  "deliver  the  administration 
of  the  Government  into  the  hands  of  traitors  reeking 
with  the  blood  of  freemen."23  For  his  part24  he  would 
rather  "trust  the  liberty  of  his  country  in  the  hands 
of  the  loyal  black  whose  gun  was  aimed  at  the  enemies 

19.  Detroit  Free  Press,  Oct.  20,  1866. 

20.  The  epithet  applied  to  the  National  Unionists  by  the  Re 

publicans. 

21.  Free  Press,  Oct.  20,  1866. 

22.  Speech  at  Lansing,  Oct.   18,   1866.    Free  Press,  Oct.  20, 

1866. 

23.  Ibid. 

24.  Speech  at  Detroit,  Nov.  3,  Post,  Nov.  5,  1866. 


04  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

of  his  country  than  in  the  hands  of  a  grayback  traitor 
whose  gun  was  pointed  at  his  country." 

If  an  item  in  the  Free  Press2'0  is  to  be  believed,  Mr. 
Chandler  depended  upon  something  besides  oratory 
to  carry  the  State;  it  says:  "A  letter  from  Jackson 
county  informs  us  of  the  receipt  of  circulars  from  the 
Hon.  Z.  Chandler,  asking  for  the  names  of  Democrats 
who  are  very  poor." 

Mr.  Chandler  stumped  the  State  with  his  old-time 
vigor,  and  the  result  of  the  election  was  that  a  heavy 
Republican  majority  sanctioned  the  position  of  the 
radicals. 


25.    Free  Press,  Oct.  9,  1866. 


CHAPTER  XI 
FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

TT  is  a  law  of  politics  that  men  who  enter  public 
life  full  of  patriotism  and  enthusiasm  for  some 
great  moral  issue,  once  that  object  is  attained,  are 
not  likely  to  see  that  new  issues  have  arisen  and  that 
new  problems  have  come  to  demand  solution.  They 
go  on  along  the  old  lines.  It  was  so  with  Zachariah 
Chandler.  Sent  to  the  Senate  to  fight  slaveholders, 
maintain  freedom  in  the  Territories  and  preserve  the 
Union,  the  Northwest  found  in  him  an  able  champion. 
His  very  narrowness  of  vision,  bitter  partisan  spirit 
and  indomitable  courage  and  energy  had  prevented 
compromise  and  brought  the  South  to  her  knees. 
But  these  very  qualities  so  potent  for  good  during  the 
war  were  productive  of  evil  after  the  war.  A  new  issue 
was  before  the  nation:  How  should  the  Union  be  re 
constructed?  Statesmen,  men  of  wisdom  and  broad 
vision  were  needed  to  answer  this  question.  Mr. 
Chandler  had  known  the  bitterness  of  the  conflict 
too  well,  he  had  fought  the  Copperheads  and  rebels 
too  long  to  be  able  to  take  a  statesmanlike  position 
upon  the  issues  of  reconstruction.  The  men  like 
Chandler  who  because  of  their  fierce  readiness  to  fight 
had  refused  compromise  and  had  called  forth  the 
energy  of  the  North  to  crush  the  South  were  now  in 
capable  temperamentally  of  taking  an  attitude  of 
conciliation  which  the  situation  seems  to  have  re- 


96  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

quired.  So  Chandler  joined  the  Radicals  and  the 
Radicals  were  essentially  the  "  stand  -patters"  who 
never  forgot  that  Southerners  had  been  rebels,  Demo 
crats  and  Copperheads.  The  Radicals  were  intent 
on  maintaining  the  Republican  party  in  power  though 
the  price  were  Negro  suffrage  and  frequent  violation 
of  rights  vested  by  the  Constitution.  The  Con 
servatives  were  the  liberals  who  rose  above  a  desire 
for  vengeance  and  sought  only  to  heal  the  wounds  left 
by  the  conflict. 

But  in  reconstruction  as  in  rebellion,  Mr.  Chandler 
was  still  representative  of  the  spirit  of  the  Northwest. 
The  crippled  veterans  in  the  streets,  the  vacant  places 
in  the  family  circles,  cried  aloud  for  vengeance.  That 
ruthless  spirit  which  felled  the  forests  of  Michigan 
and  conquered  the  wilderness  demanded  that  the  last 
root  and  branch  of  the  rebellion  be  blotted  out  and 
found  in  Mr.  Chandler  an  able  champion  of  its  desires. 

There  is  another  phase  of  Mr.  Chandler's  career 
that  deserves  special  mention,  and  that  is  his  attitude 
toward  foreign  affairs.  His  blustering  speeches  in  the 
Senate  and  on  the  stump  were  distinctly  "jingoistic." 
He  was  constantly  offering  resolutions  in  the  Senate 
couched  in  undiplomatic  and  even  threatening  lan 
guage,  upon  various  matters  connected  with  our  foreign 
policy.  It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  man 
more  unfitted  by  nature  and  by  training  to  cope  with 
the  affairs  of  the  State  Department,  and  yet  Mr. 
Chandler  probably  made  more  speeches  upon  matters 
connected  with  our  foreign  policy  than  upon  any  other 
single  topic.  No  doubt  the  Northwest  favored  ex 
pansion,  and  probably  many  of  Mr.  Chandler's  con- 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RECONSTRUCTION  97 

stituents  believed  as  he  did  that  the  United  States  was 
the  greatest  nation  in  the  world  and  could  whip  the 
combined  armies  of  Europe;  but  that  his  jingoistic 
attitude  was  representative  of  the  feelings  of  his  con 
stituents  is  hardly  true.  His  popularity  in  Michigan 
was  due  to -the  fact  that  he  was  "  sound  on  the  main 
question,"  and  not  due  to  his  belligerent  attitude  on 
foreign  affairs;  and  yet  even  in  foreign  affairs  Mr. 
Chandler  was  but  an  exaggerated  type  of  the  Western 
diplomatist.  It  is  characteristic  of  American  diplo 
macy  to  deal  frankly,  boldly,  even  bluntly  with  foreign 
nations,  and  American  diplomacy  has  its  root  in  the 
West,  where  men  are  wont  to  treat  their  daily  diffi 
culties  in  very  summary  fashion.1 

As  an  illustration  of  Mr.  Chandler's  attitude  on 
reconstruction  we  will  now  consider  some  of  his  re 
marks  in  the  Senate  and  elsewhere  during  1867  and 
1868.  On  December  4,  1866,  he  spoke2  in  favor  of  a 
bill  to  withdraw  from  the  President  the  power  to 
pardon  rebels.  February  11,  1867,  he  declared3  that 
if  Andrew  Johnson  had  violated  the  law  in  appointing 
provisional  governors  for  the  States  lately  in  rebellion, 
he  should  be  impeached.  A  few  days  later  he  made 
a  violent  attack4  upon  Secretary  McCulloch  for  ap 
pointing  Assistant  Assessors  of  Internal  Revenue  in 
the  Southern  States  who  were  unable  to  take  the  oath. 
In  the  course  of  this  speech  he  declared  that  Secretary 

1.  See    Cornelius    O'Dowd    (Charles    Lever)    on    "American 

Diplomacy,"    Blackwood's    Magazine,    December,    1868, 
(Vol.  104)". 

2.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  39th  Cong.,  p.  8-9. 

3.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  39th  Cong.,  p.  1135-6. 

4.  Feb.  27,  1867.     Globe,  2nd  Sess.  39th  Cong.,  p.  1884. 

13 


98  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

McCulloch  was  a  pauper  and  a  criminal  and  that  he 
was  ready  to  say  so  elsewhere  when  the  protection  of 
privilege  would  be  lacking.  He  was  active  in  op 
posing  adjournment  during  1867,  believing  that  it 
was  unsafe  to  adjourn  long  enough  for  the  President 
to  get  control  of  reconstruction.  On  September  25, 

1867,  William    Thorpe    wrote5    to    Andrew    Johnson 
from  Detroit:     "The  only  advocate  of  impeachment 
about  here  is  Senator  Z.  Chandler,  who  may  be  seen 
at  all  hours  of  the  day  running  after  men  in  the  streets 
and   exhorting   them   in   the  most  fervent   manner." 
In  a  speech  at  Ashtabula,  Ohio,6  on  October  1,  Mr. 
Chandler  said  that  although  he  voted  for  the  Four 
teenth  Amendment  he  believed  at  the  time  that  it 
was  a  base  surrender  of  the  loyal  Union  men  of  the 
South—  -"  Rebels  must  take  back  seats  and  of  course 
loyal   men   must    govern    this    country.     I    care   not 
whether  they  be  black  or  white."     On  February  21, 

1868,  a  resolution  was  offered  in  the  Senate  simply 
expressing,  disapproval  of  the  action  of  the  President 
in  removing  Secretary  Stanton.     Mr.  Chandler  moved7 
to  add  the  words  "as  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  the 
Senate  and  unauthorized  by  law."     The  Senate  re 
fused  to  agree. 

Mr.  Chandler  of  course  voted  "guilty"  on  the  im 
peachment  of  Andrew  Johnson.  The  story  is  told8 
that  as  the  impeachment  trial  drew  to  a  close,  Mr. 
Chandler  entered  the  Senate  chamber  one  morning, 
when  a  friend  eagerly  asked,  "Do  tell  me,  Mr.  Chand- 

5.  MS  letter,  Johnson  Papers,  Library  of  Congress. 

6.  McPherson's  Scrap  Book,  Campaign  of  1867,  II,  134-136. 

7.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  40th  Cong.,  p.  4509. 

8.  Free  Press,  May  24,  1868. 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RECONSTRUCTION  99 

ler,  how  is  it  going  to-day?"  "Go  and  ask  that 
d — d  scoundrel  in  the  corner;  it  all  depends  on  him/* 
roared  the  Senator,  looking  at  Ross  of  Kansas,  of 
whose  defection  he  had  just  heard. 

In  a  similar  way  we  may  note  the  evidences  of  Mr. 
Chandler's  jingoistic  attitude  on  foreign  affairs.  De 
cember  3,  1866,  he  offered  a  resolution  in  the  Senate 
in  regard  to  the  French  troops  in  Mexico  inquiring 
whether  "the  French  Emperor  has  offered  any  ex 
planation  or  apology  for  his  course."9  Mr.  Sumner 
having  pointed  out  the  undiplomatic  character  of  the 
language,  the  Senate  refused  to  consider  the  resolution. 
On  March  25,  1867,  Mr.  Chandler  spoke  at  length10 
on  a  bill  reported  from  the  Committee  on  Commerce 
declaring  it  legal  for  citizens  of  the  United  States  to 
sell  ships  to  friendly  belligerents.  This  bill  of  course 
was  directed  at  Great  Britain.  "Pass  this  Bill,  Sir," 
cried  Mr.  Chandler,  "and  I  will  guarantee  you  that 
Great  Britain  will  be  begging  for  permission  to  pay 
the  Alabama  claims  before  three  months." 

Speaking  at  a  banquet  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  in 
June,  in  regard  to  the  Alabama  claims,  Mr.  Chandler 
said:11 

"I  am  not  willing  to  arbitrate  with  anybody,  Mr. 
President,  the  bill  must  be  paid  with  interest  from  its 
date  and  there  is  no  discount  upon  it.  And,  Sir,  I  am 
disposed  to  be  very  liberal  with  Great  Britain.  She 
is  a  very  old  power  and  she  is  a  very  feeble  power  now. 
She  has  ceased  to  command  the  respect  of  the  nations 

9.     Globe,  2nd  Sess.  39th  Cong.,  p.  7-8. 

10.  Globe,  1st  Sess.  40th  Cong.,  p.  328-9. 

1 1 .  Detroit  Post,  June  2 1 ,  1867 . 


100  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

of  the  earth I   am  willing  to  take  collateral 

securities.  Great  Britain  owns  a  little  land  up  North 
of  us  and  I,  Sir,  am  willing  to  consider  this  a  first 
mortgage  on  the  little  debt  that  Great  Britain  owes. 
I  do  not  want  it  arbitrated.  I  want  to  let  it  rest 
until  the  time  comes  to  foreclose  that  mortgage.... 
This  North  American  continent  belongs  to  us  and  ours 
it  must  be." 

In  July12  Mr.  Chandler  made  a  speech  in  the  Senate 
on  the  Mexican  situation.  After  glorying  over  the 
shooting  of  Maximilian  he  exclaimed:  "We  want 
the  Austrians,  the  French  and  the  English  to  under 
stand  that  if  they  commence  a  war  against  Mexico 
now  they  have  got  to  fight  the  United  States  of  North 
America.  Sir,  pass  a  single  resolution  of  sympathy 
and  aid  and  no  nation  will  interfere  with  Mexico.  .  .  . 
All  the  nations  of  Europe  combined  would  not  under 
take  to  fight  the  United  States  to-day  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic." 

On  November  29  Mr.  Chandler  introduced13  a  joint 
resolution  declarative  of  the  neutrality  of  the  United 
States  between  Great  Britain  and  Abysinia.  The 
language  used  was  copied  verbatim  from  the  pro 
clamation  of  neutrality  issued  by  Great  Britain  May 
14,  1861,  except  that  the  "United  States"  and  "Con 
federate  States"  were  changed  to  "Great  Britain" 
and  "Abyssinia."14 

On  December  9  Mr.  Chandler  made  _  a  speech14  in 
support  of  his  resolution,  reviewed  the  grievances  of 

12.  July  3,  1867,  Globe,  1st  Sess.  40th  Cong.,  p.  507. 

13.  Globe,  1st  Sess.  40th  Cong.,  p.  810. 

14.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  40th  Cong.,  p.  83-84. 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RECONSTRUCTION  101 

the  United  States  against  Great  Britain,  estimated 
the  damages  due  to  the  United  States  at  two  billion 
dollars,  and  declared  that  when  the  United  States 
had  shut  Great  Britain  from  the  continent  of  North 
America  and  the  adjacent  islands,  the  debt  would  be 
paid  and  the  national  honor  satisfied. 


CHAPTER  XII 

MR.   CHANDLER'S  THIRD  ELECTION  TO  THE  UNITED 

STATES  SENATE 

% 

r\N  August  27,  1868,  Mr.  Chandler  wrote1  to 
Jacob  M.  Howard: 

"The  Copperheads  are  at  work  in  earnest  and  have 
some  hopes  of  carrying  two  or  three  Congressional 
Districts.  We  are  pressed  for  speakers  &  I  think  you 
should  come  home  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 
Suppose  you  give  up  Minn,  until  Nov.  At  any  rate, 
hurry  home  as  soon  as  possible.  I  commence  regularly 
next  week." 

In  his  speeches  during  the  campaign  of  1868,  Mr. 
Chandler  approved  Congressional  Reconstruction, 
abused  Copperheads  and  rebels,  and  denounced  the 
payment  of  the  war  debt  in  greenbacks.  Some  of  his 
methods  of  winning  votes  were  decidedly  undignified. 
At  Battle  Creek,  on  August  24,  Mr.  Chandler  at  the 
close  of  his  speech  said  :2  ' '  Now  I  want  to  ask  Gover 
nor  Oglesby  (111.)  one  question.  Come  up  here. 
(The  Governor  advanced  to  the  front  of  the  stand). 
I  want  to  ask  you,  can  we,  with  so  many  splendid 
looking  women  be  defeated?"  (Laughter  and  ap 
plause).  Governor  Oglesby:  "I  will  do  the  Hon 
orable  Senator  the  justice  to  say  that  I  have  not 
anywhere  looked  upon  a  more  intelligent  audience, 

1.  MS  letter,  Howard  Papers. 

2.  Free  Press,  August  26,  1868. 


THIRD  ELECTION  TO  U.  S.  SENATE  103 

with  more  handsome  ladies  present  in  it,  than  I  have 
to-day." 

At  Mt.  Clemens  a  few  days  later  the  following  report 
is  made  by  an  eye-witness:3  "He  spoke  for  about 
two  hours  and  wound  up  his  great  speech  by  turning 
rotind  to  his  right  and  addressing  the  ladies  (of  whom 
the  meeting  was  composed  by  half)  'and  if  any  of  you 
ladies,'  he  said,  'are  married  to  a  Copperhead  husband, 
let  him  sleep  alone/  This  was  going  pretty  far 
even  for  those  days,  and  met  with  rebuke  from  Demo 
cratic  newspapers;  but  Mr.  Chandler  was  a  product 
of  his  time,  and  his  speeches  and  jokes  did  not  offend 
his  audiences  as  similar  ones  would  to-day. 

The  reelection  of  Mr.  Chandler  was  not  a  prominent 
issue  in  the  campaign,  but  immediately  after  the 
Republican  victory  in  November  the  Senatorial  ques 
tion  began  to  be  widely  discussed.  The  Detroit  Post 
and  the  majority  of  the  Republican  State  press  sup 
ported  Mr.  Chandler.4  The  Advertiser  and  Tribune, 
Republican,  opposed  him.  The  relations  between 
Mr.  Chandler  and  some  of  the  persons  behind  the 
Advertiser  and  Tribune  had  been  unfriendly  for  some 
time.  As  a  result,  Mr.  Chandler  started  the  Post,  the 
first  number  of  which  appeared  in  March,  1866.  The 
Post  was  distinctly  a  Chandler  paper  and  the  organ 
of  the  Chandler  "Ring,"  and  with  its  establishment 

3.  "Argus"  in  Free  Press,  Sept.  10,  1868. 

4.  Free  Press,  Aug.  22,  1868  said:     "To  secure  his  reelection 

to  the  United  States  Senate,  our  Zachariah  has  lately 
been  perambulating  the  interior  of  the  State  for  the 
purpose  of  greasing  the  palms  of  the  Radical  Scribes. 
The  happy  results  of  these  exertions  are  already  apparent 
in  the  loud  chorus  of  praise  which  resounds  from  a  cer 
tain  portion  of  the  rural  press." 


104  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

the  Advertiser  and  Tribune  became  the  organ  of  the 
anti-Chandler  wing  of  the  Republican  party. 

Mr.  Chandler's  methods  to  insure  his  return  to  the 
Senate  were  much  the  same  as  before.  His  friends 
had  been  active  in  township  and  ward  caucuses  and 
legislative  district  conventions  and  wherever  possible 
had  secured  the  nomination  of  men  for  the  Legis 
lature  who  would  vote  for  him  for  the  United  States 
Senate.  In  some  districts,  in  spite  of  these  efforts, 
anti-Chandler  men  had  been  nominated  by  the  Re 
publicans,  and  Mr.  Chandler's  agents,  according  to 
report,5  worked  to  defeat  these  men  and  to  elect  the 
Democratic  candidates;  because,  although  a  Republi 
can  majority  in  the  Legislature  was  considered  certain, 
a  majority  of  Chandler  men  in  the  Republican  Sena 
torial  caucus  was  not  so  sure  and  yet  was  absolutely 
essential  to  ensure  Mr.  Chandler's  reelection.  Mr. 
Chandler  could  better  afford  to  reduce  the  Republican 
majority  in  the  Legislature  than  to  increase  it  with 
anti-Chandler  Republicans  whose  votes  in  the  Re 
publican  Senatorial  caucus  would  have  to  be  offset 
by  an  increased  number  of  Chandler  men. 

The  despotic  power  of  the  Chandler  "Ring"  was 
the  subject  of  much  hostile  criticism.  The  Advertiser 
and  Tribune  of  December  2,  1868,  said:  "There  are 
State  officers;  there  is  another  U.  S.  Senator;  there  are 
six  Congressmen  for  this  State  and  leading  Republicans 
in  all  parts  of  it — but  what  are  they?  The  Republican 
party  of  Michigan  is  for  Mr.  Chandler,  not  for  them. 
Only  such  nominations  must  be  made,  only  such  men 
elected,  as  will  promote  his  personal  fortunes  and 

5.    Advertiser  and  Tribune,  Dec.  2,  1868. 


THIRD  ELECTION  TO  U.  S.  SENATE  105 

continuance  hr  office.  Other  men  must  be  defeated 
and  kept  down,  because  if  they  rise,  Mr.  Chandler 
sinks.  No  man  but  a  personal  adherent  of  Mr. 
Chandler  is  to  hold  office  in  this  State  if  he  can  help  it. 
Everybody  who  has  the  temerity  to  oppose  Mr. 
Chandler  is  denounced  for  political  treachery  and  a 
combined  attempt  to  break  him  down  in  his  political 
character  and  standing  and  even  personal  assault  and 
indignity  have  been  resorted  to  to  intimidate  or 
silence  opposition." 

"Square  Truth"  wrote:6  "The  fact  is,  Mr.  Chand 
ler's  strength  has  grown  out  of  this  very  spirit  of 
usurpation  which  for  the  last  eight  or  ten  years  has 
characterized  him  in  his  political  intercourse  with  the 
Republicans  of -this  State.  He  it  was  who  first  as 
sumed  to  frame  and  hang  up  the  political  slate  in 
Detroit — and  a  Slate  not  for  all  Federal,  but  for  all 
State  and  even  county  and  township  offices.  With  a 
royal-like  assumption,  he  straightway  essayed  to 
make  and  unmake  public  men,  and  to  write  out, 
through  years  to  come,  all  candidates  for  public  pre 
ferment.  'Whom  he  would  he  slew  and  whom  he  would 
he  set  up,  and  whom  he  would  he  put  down.'  By  the 
grace  of  Zach.  Chandler  men  went  to  Congress,  and  the 
Legislature.  By  the  grace  of  Zach.  Chandler  men  were 
made  Governors,  Lieutenant  Governors  and  State 
Treasurers,  and  by  the  same  royal  courtesy  they  be 
came  Collectors  and  Assessors  of  the  Revenue 

poor  Sinbad  Michigan !  The  Man  of  the  Sea  is  upon 
your  shoulders  and  he  means  to  ride  just  so  long  as 
he  in  his  good  pleasure  desires  thus  to  amuse  himself." 

6.     Letter    from    "  Square    Truth,"    Advertiser    and    Tribune, 
December  26. 


108  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER 

Mr.  Chandler's  personal  habits  met  with  severe 
criticism.  The  Puritan  wing  of  the  Republican  party 
called  for  his  retirement  on  the  ground  that  his  habits 
were  immoral.  The  Northwestern  Christian  Advocate 
cried,7  "No  drunkard  in  Office."  A  writer  from  St. 
Johns  declared,8  "He  is  given  to  the  use  of  profane 
language  and  intoxicating  drink."  The  Advertiser  and 
Tribune  observed,9  "A  public  man  must  also  greatly 
influence  the  young If  his  example  is  per 
nicious  and  yet  he  is  elevated  and  honored,  it  will  be 
an  invitation  to  young  men  to  practice  vice." 

No  doubt  Mr.  Chandler  was  well  lied  about,  but 
that  there  was  at  least  some  basis  of  truth  in  the  widely 
circulated  reports  in  regard  to  his  use  of  liquor  is 
evident  from  an  editorial  in  the  Post*0  the  Chandler 
organ,  which  says,  "Some  years  ago,  during  the  fierce 
excitement  and  military  habits  of  the  war,  there  is  no 
doubt  Mr.  Chandler  was  less  carefully  abstemious 
than  he  is  now."  The  Post,  however,  declared  that 
he  had  reformed.  The  Nation  notes11  that  Gen.  Benj. 
Butler  published  a  certificate  testifying  to  Mr.  Chand 
ler's  sobriety.  Whether  this  was  regarded  as  con 
vincing  testimony  by  the  people  of  Michigan  is  per 
haps  problematical. 

But  in  spite  of  disappointed  office-seekers  jealous 
of  Mr.  Chandler's  political  autocracy,  and  the  ad 
mitted  fact  that  his  habits  were  hardly  consistent 
with  a  party  which  claimed  to  be  "the  party  of  great 

7.  Quoted  in  Advertiser  and  Tribune,  Dec.  4. 

8.  Quoted  in  Advertiser  and  Tribune,  Dec.  10. 

9.  Quoted  in  Advertiser  and  Tribune,  Nov.  21. 

10.  Post,  Dec.  9. 

11.  Nation,  Jan.  14,  1869. 


THIRD  ELECTION  TO  U.  S-  SENATE  107 

moral  ideas,"  Mr.  Chandler  was  still  a  power  among 
the  voters  of  the  State:  his  personality  appealed  to 

them.     " Jensen"  wrote:12     "I  pass  to the  more 

reasonable  objection  of  want  of  culture,  and  great 
intellectual  endowment.  In  its  technical  sense,  I 
do  not  claim  that  for  Mr.  Chandler.  It  is  well  for 
him  that  it  is  not  so.  It  is  the  bane  of  most  of  our 
so-called  scholars  and  great  men  that  they  are  scarcely 
ever  energetically  or  violently  great.  Occupied  much 
of  the  time  in  passionless  and  abstract  thought,  they 
are  illy  qualified  for  many  of  those  practical  duties 
without  which  even  Statesmanship  fails  of  its  highest 
development.  Now,  it  appears  to  me,  that  we  are 
in  one  of  those  crises  which  demand  of  our  Senatorial 
nominee  more  of  the  qualities  than  of  the  mere  powers 

of  intellect For  my  part,  I  want  a  man  in  the 

U.  S.  Senate  from  Michigan  (no  matter  what  his  ac 
quirement)  who  can  neither  be  bought,  sold  nor  scared. 
Twelve  years  of  public  life  entitles  at  least  this  to  be 
averred  of  Zachariah  Chandler."  And  the  Adrian 
Times1*  declared:  "We  want  no  doubtful  man  to 
represent  our  State  in  the  Senate  and  for  this  reason, 
if  for  rio  other,  we  advocate  Mr.  Chandler's  re-election." 
The  inside  history14  of  this  Senatorial  contest  is 
decidedly  interesting.  Mr.  Chandler  fully  realized 
that  a  coalition  between  the  two  most  promising 

12.  Post,  Dec.  2. 

13.  As  quoted  in  the  Post,  Dec.  2. 

14.  My  statements    are  based    upon    the    following:       Ms 

letter,  Allen  Potter  to  J.  M.  Howard,  dated  Jan.  12, 
1869,  in  Howard  MSS;  Letters  of  A.  Blair  and  Dr.  Geo. 
W.  Fish,  published  in  Advertiser  and  Tribune  Jan.  11, 
1871;  an  interview  with  E.  W.  Barber  of  Jackson,  Mich.; 
and  contemporary  newspapers. 


108  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

candidates  outside  of  Detroit,  Austin  Blair  of  Jackson 
and  Thomas  W.  Ferry  of  Grand  Haven,  might  prove 
disastrous  to  his  own  candidacy.  He  therefore  laid 
plans  to  break  up  the  opposition.  Three  friends  of 
Mr.  Chandler  made  a  proposition  to  Austin  Blair 
asking  him  to  support  Mr.  Chandler  in  January,  1869, 
and  promising  in  return  Mr.  Chandler's  support  of  Mr. 
Blair  for  the  Senate  in  January,  1871,  when  a  suc 
cessor  to  Jacob  M.  Howard  was  to  be  selected.  It 
was  the  ambition  of  Austin  Blair's  life  to  go  to  Wash 
ington  as  United  States  Senator  from  Michigan.  This 
overture  from  Mr.  Chandler  gave  him  the  opportunity 
to  realize  this  ambition,  but  he  rejected  it.  Austin 
Blair  was  a  man  who  possessed  many  admirable 
qualities,  honesty  and  patriotism,  but  he  lacked 
political  acumen.  He  could  not  read  men  and  he 
surrounded  himself  with  advisers  whose  wire-pulling 
abilities  were  as  meager  as  his  own. 

Having  failed  with  Mr.  Blair,  Mr.  Chandler  turned 
to  T.  W.  Ferry.  Mr.  Ferry  agreed  to  a  proposition 
the  terms  of  which  were  identical  with  those  rejected 
by  Mr.  Blair. 

Of  course  the  agreement  between  Mr.  Chandler 
and  Mr.  Ferry  was  a  secret.  Mr.  Blair  knew  nothing 
of  it  and  seemingly  never  suspected  it.  He  entered 
into  an  alliance  with  Mr.  Ferry  to  join  forces,  defeat 
Mr.  Chandler  and  elect  a  Senator  outside  of  the 
Detroit  "Ring."  Mr.  Ferry  therefore  was  bound 
secretly  to  both  Chandler  and  the  opposition  interests. 

Mr.  Blair  went  to  Lansing  in  January,  1869,  ex 
pecting  to  meet  Mr.  Ferry  as  agreed.  Mr.  Ferry 
remained  at  home.  The  delegates  from  Mr.  Ferry's 


AUSTIN  BLAIK 

From  the  oil  portrait  in  the  Capitol,  Lansing. 


THIRD  ELECTION  TO  U.  S.  SENATE  109 

district,  without  notifying  the  Blair  men,  went  into 
consultation.  The  first  question  submitted  was,  shall 
we  present  the  name  of  Mr.  Ferry  for  the  Senate? 
To  this  every  member  responded,  No.  The  second 
and  only  other  proposition  submitted  to  this  meeting 
was  for  each  member  to  express  his  first  choice  for  a 
candidate.  To  this,  one  responded  Blair  and  every 
other  voted  for  Chandler.  Mr.  Ferry  then  had  been 
true  to  Zach.  Chandler  and  had  left  Governor  Blair 
in  the  lurch.  Governor  Blair  soon  saw  that  he  had 
no  chance  and  returned  to  Jackson. 

There  were  still  some  24  votes  in  opposition  to  Mr. 
Chandler.  These  were  won  over  by  the  lobby.  Of 
this  lobby  a  writer  in  the  Advertiser  and  Tribune15 
said :  "  We  saw  these  veterans  at  Lansing  twelve  years 
ago.  How  few  of  them  die!  How  fresh  they  look! 
On  Tuesday  evening  Mr.  Chandler,  our  political 
leviathan,  accompanied  by  a  retinue  that  might  have 
been  mistaken  in  its  immensity  for  the  Israelites  who 
remembered  longingly  .the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt,  filed 
into  Capitol  Avenue!  It  was  a  real  army,  of  two 
hundred  strong,  and  every  train  for  the  succeeding 
twenty -four  hours  brought  additions  until  there  was 
such  a  lobby  as  the  oldest  inhabitants  never  beheld. 
We  bow  in  admiration  to  it.  "  Stupendous "  is  the 
only  term  that  will  describe  it.  It  overflowed  every 
where.  It  bore  down  on  the  astounded  legislators 
like  a  cavalry  charge.  All  the  evening — nearly  all 
night — all  the  next  day,  with  Briarean  hands  it  was 
leading  member  after  member,  who  had  previously 
been  put  through  from  eight  to  ten  distinct  courses  of 

15.     January  7,  1869. 


110  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

lobby,  to  the  rooms  of  the  great  chief,  where  post- 
offices  and  consulate^  were  flung  about  in  such  pro 
fusion  that  a  man  going  upstairs  in  the  vicinity  was 
likely  to  be  hit!  The  industry  and  assurance  of  the 
lobby  were  equal  to  its  dimensions.  It  was  a  jolly 
lobby,  and  had  its  laughing  section,  which  exploded 
like  incessant  peals  of  artillery.  Humorous  as  was 
the  outward  aspect  of  this  veteran  lobby,  made  up 
of  the  picked  politicians  of  the  State,  every  one  of 
whom  could  lay  a  wire  with  artistic  precision  and 
trace  it  until  it  grew  as  fine  as  Wollaston's  experi 
mental  gossamer,  it  was  tremendously  effective.  It 
literally  swallowed  up  the  opposition." 

"C.  K.  B."  wrote  in  the  same  paper,16  tj It  has  con 
sisted  of  two  divisions — the  bully  raggers  and  the 
honey  fuglers.  The  bully  raggers  have  talked  loud 
and  long  and  conducted  their  campaign  on  the  Chinese 
plan  of  frightening  the  enemy  by  a  tremendous  noise. 
The  honey  fuglers  have  been  bland,  oily  and  insinuating 
and  they  have  done  the  quiet  button-holing  and  the 
closeting.  This  lobby  has  achieved,  however,  a 
triumph  beyond  its  most  sanguine  expectations  and 
it  therefore  vanishes  to-morrow  in  a  blaze  of  glory." 

The  Republiqans  met  in  caucus  on  the  evening  of 
January  6.  On  the  first  (and  onjy)  informal  ballot, 
Mr.  Chandler  received  78  out  of  96  votes.  His  nomi 
nation  was  then  made  unanimous.17  The  Republicans 
having  a  majority  in  the  Legislature,  Mr.  Chandler 
was  assured  of  a  third  term  of  six  years  in  the  United 
States  Senate. 


16.  Advertiser  and  Tribune,  January  8,  1869. 

17.  Advertiser  and  Tribune,  January  7,  1869. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

GRANT'S  FIRST  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  CAMPAIGN 

OF  1872 

.  CHANDLER  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  protec- 
tive  principle.  During  the  winter  of  1868-69  he 
succeeded  in  getting  through  the  Senate  a  high  tariff 
on  copper.  The  copper  tariff  also  passed  the  House, 
to  the  great  joy  of  the  Lake  Superior  region.  At 
Houghton,  guns  were  fired,  whistles  blown  and  bon 
fires  lighted,  but  the  celebration  was  premature — 
Johnson  vetoed  the  bill. 

In  April,  1869,  Mr.  Chandler  made  a  fiery  speech 
in  the  Senate,  and  offered  a  resolution1  to  the  effect 
that  the  President  be  authorized  to  negotiate  with 
England  for  the  transfer  of  the  British  possessions  in 
North  America  and  the  consequent  abandonment  by 
the  United  States  of  all  claims  against  her.  On 
motion  of  Mr.  Sumner  the  resolution  was  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations. 

Soon  after  the  inauguration  of  President  Grant, 
Mr.  Chandler  took  occasion  to  punish  his  enemies 
and  reward  his  friends  by  whose  help  he  had  been 
returned  to  the  Senate.2  George  Jerome  was  made 
Collector  of  the  Port  at  Detroit.  Mr.  Jerome  was 
personally  very  popular  with  the  voters  of  the  State 

1.  April  17,  1869,  Globe,  1st  Sess.  41st  Cong.,  pp.  727-731. 

2.  This  account  is  based  upon  the  following:     Advertiser  and 

Tribune,  April  9,  1869;  April  15,  April  20,  May  14,  Aug. 
20,  1870;  and  January  3,  1871. 


112  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

and  possessed  great  political  influence.     He  belonged 
to  the  " good-fellow"  type  of  politician,  and  of  him  it 
was  said,3   "  Everyone  says  he  has  carried  Chandler 
on  his  shoulders  from  the  outset  of  his,   Chandler's, 
political  career.     I  have  no  doubt  he  has  been  Chand 
ler's  mainstay."     Mr.   James   M.   Edmunds,   perhaps 
the  most  astutfe  politician  in  Michigan  and  Mr.  Chand 
ler's  right-hand  man,  was  made  Postmaster  at  Wash 
ington,  D.  C.     Mr.  William  A.  Howard's  reward  for 
long    and    faithful    service    was    an    appointment    as 
Minister    to    China;    he    declined    this,    however,    to 
accept  the  land  agency  and  attorneyship  for  the  G. 
R.    &   I.    Railroad.     The   District   Attorneyship   was 
given  to  Mr.  A.  B.  Maynard.     Mr.  H.  B.  Rowlson, 
editor  of  the  Hillsdale   Standard,   a  paper  that  had 
vigorously  supported  the  election  of  Senator  Chandler, 
became    Collector    of    Internal    Revenue.     The    new 
Indian  Agent,  Mr.  Brockway  of  Calhoun  County,  had 
lobbied  for  Mr.  Chandler  at  Lansing  in  January,  1869. 
Another  lobbyist,  Mr.  Edward  Lefavour,  was  made  a 
Special    Treasury    Agent    at    $6.00    per    day.     Hon. 
George  Swift  of  Wayne,  at  first  an  opponent  of  Mr. 
Chandler's  reelection  but  later  one  of  his  most  con 
spicuous  supporters,  was  appointed  Consul  at  Windsor, 
Canada.     The  office-holders  who  had  supported  Austin 
Blair  now   came  up   for  punishment.     Samuel  Lacey 
was  turned  out  of  the  Marshall  post-office;  Mr.  Kings- 
bury,   Postmaster  at  Grand  Rapids  lost  his  head  in 
spite  of  the  protest  of  Mr.  T.  W.  Ferry.     It  is  un 
necessary  to  complete  the  list.     The  test  of  fidelity 

3.     MS  letter.  Judge  J.  J.  Speed  to  J.  M.  Howard,  dated  Feb. 
9,  1869,  Howard  Papers,  Vol.  91. 


GRANT'S   FIRST   ADMINISTRATION  113 

to  the  Republican  party  in  Michigan  was  loyalty  to 
Zachariah  Chandler.  He  dominated  the  whole  Michi 
gan  delegation  in  Congress  and  every  appointment 
and  removal  was  one  directed  or  authorized  by  him. 

In  May,  1869,  Mr.  Chandler  in  company  with  his 
wife  and  daughter  left  for  Europe.  Mr.  Chandler 
had  wealth  and  he  liked  to  spend  it.  Just  how  much 
truth  there  was  in  the  newspaper  reports  that  he  took 
along  "four  negro  servants"  is  hard  to  say.  Ac 
cording  to  report,  two  of  these  were  men  to  take  care 
of  the  Senator;  the  two  women  were  to  divide  their 
attentions  between  the  two  ladies  of  his  family.  The 
men  wore  coats  resplendent  in  gold  embroidery, 
grape-vines  worked  up  the  backs,  and  the  Chandler 
coat-of-arms  on  the  coat-tails;  their  hats  were  of 
black  silk  and  decorated  with  large  silver  cockades. 
The  ladies  wore  the  coat-of-arms  and  the  Chandler 
"C"  on  their  belt  buckles.  A  good  many  stories 
were  told  about  Mr.  Chandler's  experiences  abroad. 
On  one  occasion,  it  is  said,4  he  was  engaged  in  con 
versation  with  an  English  notable  who  asked  why  it 
was  that  the  Americans  felt  such  resentment  towards 
England  while  they  did  not  complain  of  France  that 
had  tried  to  induce  England  to  join  her  in  recognizing 
the  Confederacy.  "Oh,"  replied  the  Senator  bluntly, 
"we  don't  care  a  brass  farthing  what  other  nations 
say;  its  only  what  they  do.  France  did  not  hurt  us 
any;  but  you  did."  "But,"  urged  the  Englishman, 
"suppose  we  had  listened  to  Napoleon;  the  result 
might  have  been  different,  you  know."  "How  differ- 

4.     Free  Press,  May  8,  1870. 
15 


114  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

ent?"  "Why,  you  know,  the  Confederates  might 
have  won  the  fight."  "  I  don't  know  any  such  thing," 
replied  the  Senator.  "How?  You  don't  mean  that 
the  sword  of  England  would  not  have  turned  the 
scale!"  cried  the  amazed  John  Bull.  "Why,  look 
here,"  retorted  the  Senator,  "How  large  an  army  has 
England  got,  anyhow?  How  many  troops  could 
England  put  into  the  field?"  "Perhaps  sixty  thousand 
regulars."  "Sixty  thousand!  Why  Gen.  Grant  in 
one  battle  at  the  Wilderness  killed  sixty  thousand 
men  in  four  days  and  in  a  week  the  ranks  were  full 
again.  If  the  whole  British  Army  had  been  there  they 
would  have  hindered  one  of  our  half-dozen  armies 
just  four  days;  that's  all,  Sir!" 

On  January  31,  1870,  Mr.  Chandler  spoke  on  the 
Currency  bill.  He  was  a  rigid  opponent  of  inflation 
and  his  influence  in  maintaining  a  sound  currency 
was  important. 

During  the  debate  on  the  Funding  bill,  Mr.  Chandler 
spoke  against  a  proposition  to  establish  an  agency 
abroad  for  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  national 
debt.  t'Mr.  President,"  he  said,5  "it  is  more  a  matter 
of  pride  than  anything  else.  If  we  propose  to  take 
our  stand  among  the  first  nations  of  the  earth,  it  is 
beneath  pur  dignity  as  a  great  nation  to  make  our 
interest  payable  anywhere  except  at  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States." 

On  April  19,  1870,6  Mr.  Chandler  offered  a  resolution 
in  the  Senate  directing  the  President  to  appoint  com 
missioners  to  negotiate  with  the  people  of  Winnipeg 

5.  March  9,  1870,  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  41st  Cong.,  p.  1788. 

6.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  41st  Cong.,  2808. 


LETITIA  GRACE   (DOUGLASS)   CHANDLER 

Wife  of  Zachariah  Chandler. 


GRANT'S   FIRST   ADMINISTRATION  115 

on  the  subject  of  annexation  to  the  United  States. 
On  the  22nd  he  supported  this  by  a  speech7  in  which 
he  said, 

"We  are  to-day  the  strongest  military  power  on 
earth.  .  .  .This  continent  is  ours  and  we  may  as  well 
notify  the  world  now  as  at  any  future  time  that  we 

will  fight  for  our  own We  have  been  forbearing 

toward  Great  Britain;  we  have  been  forbearing  toward 
all  the  world;  but  the  time  has  now  arrived  to  assert 
the  Monroe  Doctrine.  The  time  has  arrived  or 
nearly  arrived  when  we  shall  say  to  all  the  world, 
'Hands  off  this  continent;  it  is  ours,  and  we  intend  to 
possess  our  own.' 

The  evening  of  May  21,  the  Senate  met  for  an  all 
night  struggle  over  the  bill  to  enforce  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment.  Mr.  Chandler's  efforts  in  behalf  of  the 
bill  are  evidenced  by  the  following  letter:8 

"Friend  Howard, 

"The  cops  are  acting  as  meanly  as  they  know  how 
come  up  at  once  &  help  us  out  dont  fail. 

(Signed)         "Z.  CHANDLER. 


"Hon.  J.  M.  Howard, 
"3  A.  M." 


On  the  back  of  this  letter  is  a  note  by  Mr.  Howard : 

"Hon.  Z.  Chandler,  May  21,  70     On  the  bill  to  en 
force  the  15th  amendt — is  in  a  hurry — I  got  out  of 

7.  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  41st  Cong.,  p.  2288. 

8.  Howard  MSS. 


116  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

bed,  went  to  the  Senate  &  we  passed  the  bill  at  7^ 
A.  M.  &  adjourned." 

On  the  28th,  Mr.  Chandler  made  a  speech9  in  favor 
of  the  annexation  of  San  Domingo.  In  December10" 
he  made  a  violent  attack  upon  Sumner  for  criticizing 
President  Grant  and  the  San  Domingo  scheme.  A  few 
days  later  Mr.  Chandler  wrote11  to  Charles  T.  Gorham 

of  Marshall: 

"Sumner  made  a  malicious  attack  upon  the  Presi 
dent  and  was  properly  rebuked Sumner  has 

no  common  sense  he  is  overstocked  with  uncommon 

sense   & '[?]   with   one  grain   of    common   sense 

would  make  a  splendid  man  but  the  lack  is  fatal. 
The  President  is  doing  splendidly  is  as  sound  a  Re 
publican  as  you  or  I  &  on  the  whole  the  best.  .  .  .[?] 
two  Year  Old  I  ever  knew." 

Of  Grant's  first  Administration  it  was  said:12  "He 
has  sat  by  and  seen  the  Country  tolerably  well  gov 
erned."  Among  the  men  who  dominated  the  Presi 
dent — Morton,  Chandler,  Conkling,  Cameron  and 
Butler — Mr.  Chandler  was  one  of  the  most  influential. 
He  was  always  ready  to  smoke  a  cigar,  take  a  drink, 
play  a  game  of  cards  or  tell  a  good  story.  His  ag 
gressiveness,  high  spirits  and  talkativeness  were  a 
decided  contrast  to  Grant's  quiet  ways  and  made 
them  personally  very  congenial.  Undoubtedly  Mr. 

9.  May  28,  1870,  Globe,  2nd  Sess.  41st  Cong.,  p.  408. 

10.  Dec.  21,  1870,  Globe,  3rd  Sess.  41st  Cong.,  p.  241-3. 

11.  MS  letter  dated  Jan.  7,  1871. 

12.  Springfield  Republican,  Nov.  24,  1871. 


GRANT'S   FIRST   ADMINISTRATION  117 

Chandler's  influence  over  Grant  was  used  to  further 
a  harsh  policy  towards  the  South,  a  jingoistic  and 
expansionist  policy  abroad  and  opposition  to  civil 
service  reform  at  home.  .No  man  was  more  active  in 
bringing  about  the  removal  of  Mr.  Sum.ner  from  the 
Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  and  sub 
stituting  Simon  Cameron  than  was  Mr.  Chandler. 
As  a  member  of  the  "Ku  Klux  Com.mittee"  he  was 
active  in  bringing  out  information  which  would  show 
the  necessity  of  keeping  the  South  in  subjection.  In 
1872  he  opposed  abolishing  the  moiety  system  in  con 
nection  with  the  collection  of  the  tariff  and  internal 
revenue — a  system  valuable  for  corrupt  office-holders 
who  desired  graft,  but  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  reform 
of  the  customs  service.  He  voted  on  March  7,  1872, 
for  an  amendment  to  the  Legislative  Appropriation 
bill  to  repeal  all  laws  and  regulations  establishing  civil 
service  reform  and  competitive  examinations.  This 
amendment  was  laid  on  the  table  on  motion  of  Senator 
Trumbull  by  a  vote  of  40  to  19 — Cameron,  Chandler 
and  Carpenter  were  among  the  19. 

Mr.  Chandler  was  personally  honest.  His  bitterest 
enemies  never  ventured  to  suggest,  seriously,  that  he 
ever  touched  a  penny  of  the  public  money  that  did  not 
belong  to  him.  But  he  was  a  practical  politician. 
He  opposed  civil  service  reform  because  it  would 
interfere  with  the  patronage.  He  had  grown  ac 
customed  to  the  political  methods  which  some  men 
were  now  trying  to  remedy  and  he  liked  them;  they 
had  served  him  well  and  with  them  he  hoped  to  keep 
the  power  that  he  had. 

The  Senatorial  contest  of  January,    1871,  resulted 


118  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

in  the  election  of  Thomas  W.  Ferry  of  Grand  Haven  to 
succeed  Jacob  M.  Howard.  "The  real  contest  was 
between  Ferry  and  Blair,  as  location  was  made  the  one 
important  thing  in  the  contest,"  wrote13  Mr.  Chandler 
to  his  friend  C.  T.  Gorham.  The  Blair-Fish  letter  no 
doubt  had  considerable  influence.14  Dr.  Fish  had 
written  a  letter  to  Blair  describing  the  deal  between 
Ferry  and  Chandler  which  resulted  in  the  sudden 
withdrawal  of  Ferry  in  January,  1869,  and  the  election 
of  Chandler  to  the  Senate.  In  reply  Mr.  Blair  wrote 
to  Fish  a  letter  in  which  he  declared  that  Howard 
"has  been  the  right  bower  of  all  the  corrupt  rings 
here"  and  expressed  his  opinion  in  regard  to  the  leading 
Republican  politicians  by  the  words,  "a  lot  of  corrupt 
scoundrels."  This  letter  was  confidential  and  was 
surreptitiously  taken  from  Dr.  Fish's  desk  and  pub 
lished  in  the  Free  Press.  As  a  result,  Mr.  Blair  found 
himself  not  only  politically  but  personally  hated  by 
the  dominant  Ring.  They  fought  him  bitterly.  When 
J.  M.  Howard  found  his  own  chances  of  reelection 
gone  he  threw  most  of  his  vote  in  favor  of  Ferry, 
with  the  result  that  Blair's  political  prestige  suffered 
a  blow  from  which  it  never  recovered. 

The  campaign  of  187215  in  Michigan  was  a  contest 
between  the  Radical  Republicans  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  Liberal  Republicans  and  Democrats  acting  in 
harmony  on  the  other.  The  radicals  declared  that  the 
problems  growing  out  of  the  war  constituted  the  most 

13.  MS  letter  dated  Jan.  7,  1871. 

14.  On  this  see  Advertiser  and  Tribune,  Jan.  11,  1871. 

15.  For  a  fuller  account  of  this  campaign  see  H.  M.  Dilla, 

Politics  of  Michigan,  1865-1878,  in  Columbia  University 
Studies,  XLVII,  No.  1,  pp.  129-147. 


GRANT'S   FIRST   ADMINISTRATION  119 

vital  issue  before  the  nation.  They  congratulated 
themselves  upon  their  record  and  declared  that  they 
were  the  only  party  that  could  be  trusted  to  keep  the 
Government  from  the  hands  of  those  who  had  tried  to 
break  up  the  Union.  The  Liberal  Republicans  and 
the  Democrats  insisted  that  the  war  was  over;  that  the 
"bloody-shirt"  had  been  waved  long  enough,  that 
amnesty  should  be  promptly  granted  to  former  rebels; 
that  the  Radical  Administration  was  full  of  corruption 
and  had  failed  to  meet  the  new  issues  of  reform. 

During  the  campaign  of  1872,  Mr.  Blair  joined 
the  Liberal  Republicans.  In  a  speech  at  Marshall16 
he  declared  that  the  old  Republican  party  had  failed 
to  meet  the  new  issues  of  reform  and  that  the  ring  in 
national  politics  was  but  a  replica  of  a  ring  which 
had  dominated  the  Republican  party  of  Michigan  for 
years. 

Mr.  Chandler,  of  course,  denounced  the  cry  of 
reform.  At  Orange,  N.  J.,17  he  said:  "What  are  they 
howling  for  reform  for?  We  have  it  now.  There  is 
hardly  a  man  who  is  setting  up  his  cry  for  reform 
who  is  not  a  corrupt  scoundrel  or  a  thief.  What  is 

Lyman  Trumbull? How  about  Doolittle?"  At 

Adrian,  Michigan,18  he  accused  Austin  Blair  of  dis 
honesty  in  office.  Mr.  Chandler's  stump  speeches 
usually  opened  with  a  funny  story.  His  favorite 
story  during  the  campaign  of  1872  ran  something  like 

16.  Detroit  Tribune,  July  15,  1872. 

17.  New  York  Times,  Aug.  25,  1872,  McPherson's  Campaign 

of  1872,  IV,  58,  59. 

18.  Aug.  2,   1872,  Adrian  Times,  Aug.  3,  McPherson's  Cam 

paign  of '  '72,  Vol.  III. 


120  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

this:19  "During  the  war  a  private  in  an  Illinois  regi 
ment  went  into  a  drinking  saloon,  where  he  found  a 
man  in  chaplain's  uniform,  evidently  much  inebriated, 
who  asked  him  what  regiment  he  belonged  to.  The 
19th  Illinois,'  was  the  answer.  'What  do  you  belong 
to?'  The  drunken  man  straightened  up  and  replied, 
'I  belong  to  the  Army  of  the  Lord,  Sir!'  'Well,'  said 
the  soldier,  'that  may  be,  but  to  my  thinking  you  are 
a  thunderin'  ways  from  headquarters!'  Now  any 
man  who  supports  the  nominees  of  the  Baltimore 
convention  must,  if  he  claims  to  be  a  Republican,  be 
'a  thunderin'  ways  from  headquarters.' 

Of  course  Mr.  Chandler  compared  the  records  of  the 
Republican  and-  Democratic  parties,  waved  the 
"bloody-shirt,"  praised  Grant  and  ridiculed  Greeley. 
He  had  no  doubt  as  to  the  outcome.  As  early  as 
August  24,  1871,  he  wrote  to  C.  T.  Gorham:20  "The 
political  outlook  was  never  so  good  as  at  present. 
Our  enemies  are  doing  the  work  better  than  we  could. 
In  fact,  if  we  make  no  mistakes  the  battle  of  1872  is 
already  fought  and  won.  There  will  be  little  or  no 
opposition  to  President  Grant's  renomination  except 
for  Sumner  and  Schurz  &  their  prestige  is  gone.  Schurz 
has  gone  to  the  C—  —Democracy  &  taken  Missouri 
with  him  &  can  do  us  no  more  harm.  Sumner  will 
grumble  and  growl  and  support  the [?]" 

In  July,  1872,  he  again  wrote  to  Mr.  Gorham:21 
"The  political  outlook  for  Grant  is  good  and  growing 
better.  We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 

19.  Speech  at  Norembega  Hall,  Bangor,   Maine,  July,   1872. 

McPherson's  Campaign  of  72,  III,  11-12. 

20.  MS  letter. 

21.  MS  letter. 


GRANT'S    FIRST   ADMINISTRATION  121 

percentage  of  Republicans  who  will  support  Greeley 
will  be  very  small  while  on  the  other  hand  many 
democrats  will  vote  for  Grant  as  preferable  to  Greeley 
&  many  more  will  not  vote  at  all.  The  colored  men 
will  vote  as  a  unit  for  Grant  although  the  Greeleyites 
are  making  desperate  efforts  to  carry  them  over  to 
the  other  side.  The  contest  promises  to  be  a  very 
personal  one  &  abuse  without  limit  will  be  poured  on 
the  heads  of  the  prominent  characters  of  both  parties. 
The  Democrats  are  making  the  most  desperate  efforts 
to  win  &  the  Republicans  are  equally  determined  that 
their  ancient  enemies  with  their  allies  shall  gain 
nothing  in  the  way  of  office,  power  or  control  of  nation 
al  affairs.  You  have  doubtless  heard  of  the  defection 
of  Austin  Blair.  This  was  not  expected.  He  waited 
until  it  was  morally  certain  that  Greeley  would  be 
nominated  by  the  Democrats  at  Baltimore  and  then 
with  a  great  parade  of  mock  virtuous  indignation  he 
deserted  the  Republican  camp  &  threw  himself  into 
the  expectant  arms  of  the  Democracy.  It  is  believed 
that  they  have  made  some  fine  promises  &  will  nominate 
him  either  for  Governor  or  for  Congress — It  is  im 
material  to  the  old  National  Republican  party  of 
Michigan  what  they  do  with  their  newly  found  political 
treasure.  He  will  be  flattened  out  completely  and 
permanently  in  a  political  sense  whenever  our  people 
have  the  opportunity  to  be  heard  at  the  ballot-box. 
His  old  friends  and  the  Republican  Press  throughout 
the  State  including  the  Jackson  Citizen  condemn  Mr. 
Blair's  course  in  emphatic  term.s  &  his  following  will 
doubtless  be  very  small..  The  people  of  Michigan  are 


122  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

too  thoroughly  embued  with  Republican  principles  to 
give  them  up  for  the  husks  of  Democracy." 

Mr.  Chandler's  most  sanguine  expectations  were 
fully  realized.  The  Republican  majority  for  Grant 
in  Michigan  was  over  55,000.  Even  the  Democratic 
strongholds  of  Detroit  and  Wayne  County  were  re 
deemed  at  last. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

GRANT'S  SECOND  TERM  AND  MR.  CHANDLER'S  DEFEAT 

IN  1875 

TV/TR.  CHANDLER  had  the  good  sense  to  vote 
against  the  Salary  Grab  bill  and  to  speak  in  op 
position  to  the  increase  in  the  pay  of  Senators  and 
Representatives.  Of  course  Mr.  Chandler's  living 
expenses  in  Washington  far  exceeded  the  amount  of 
his  salary  as  Senator.  His  house  in  Washington  was 
situated  in  the  most  fashionable  quarter;  his  annual 
expense  at  the  Capital  was  not  far  from  $35,000  or 
$40,000.  Washington  correspondents  waxed  eloquent 
over  his  " coach  and  footman"  and  the  " livery"  of 
his  house  servants  which  included  silver  buttons 
mounted  with  the  Chandler  "C."  The  debut  of 
Mr.  Chandler's  only  daughter  was  a  most  gorgeous 
affair  and  was  described  by  Mark  Twain  in  a  very 
amusing  letter  to  the  Chicago  Republican.1 

On  January  20,  1874,  Mr.  Chandler  made  a  speech2 
in  the  Senate  against  inflation  of  the  currency  by  further 
issues  of  greenbacks  and  advocated  an  immediate 
resumption  of  specie  payments.  As  a  war  measure, 
Mr.  Chandler  had  voted  for  an  issue  of  greenbacks  in 
1862  and  1865,  but  his  natural  shrewdness  showed 
him  the  fallacy  of  inflating  the  currency.  He  wrote 

1.  Reprinted  in  Detroit  Post,  February  20,   1868  and  Free 

Press,  February  22,  1868. 

2.  Globe,  1st  Sess.  43rd  Cong.,  p.  777-8. 


124  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

to  C.  T.  Gorham,3  "I  have  heartily  opposed  inflation 
at  every  point,  but  if  the  inflationists  succeed  in  con 
trolling  our  financial  policy,  suppose  I  can  endure 
living  in  a  balloon  as  long  as  any  of  them." 

The  death  of  Charles  Sumner  left  Chandler  the 
senior  Senator  in  continuous  service.  Hamlin  and 
Cameron  entered  the  Senate  with  Chandler  in  1857, 
but  both  had  been  out  for  a  period  since  then.4 

The  campaign  of  1874  was  of  great  importance  to 
Chandler  because  his  term  in  the  Senate  expired 
March  4,  1875,  and  it  was  to  the  Legislature  elected  in 
1874  that  he  had  to  look  for  reelection. 

The  schism  made  in  the  Republican  ranks  by  the 
Liberal  Republican  movement  in  1872  reappeared  in 
the  organization  of  the  Republican  opposition  as  a 
National  Reform  party  in  1874.  Criticism  of  the  Ad 
ministration  by  both  National  Reformers  and  Demo 
crats  consisted  of  charges  of  corruption,  extravagance 
in  national  expenditures  and  usurpation  of  power  in 
interfering  with  the  States  lately  in  rebellion.  The 
Salary  Grab  Act,  the  Credit  Mobilier  scandal,  the 
Press-Gag  law,  and  many  other  instances  of  radical 
evil-doing  were  made  the  most  of  by  the  opposition 
parties.  It  was  also  declared  that  the  radicals  were 
determined  to  give  Grant  a  third  term  and  that'  the 
patronage  of  the  National  Government  was  corruptly 
used  to  maintain  the  old  party  in  power.  The  cam 
paign  gives  evidence  of  a  wide-spread  feeling  of  dis 
satisfaction  with  the  still  unsatisfactory  conditions  in 
the  lately  reconstructed  States  and  the  corruption 

3.  April  1,  1874.     MS  letter. 

4.  Detroit  Tribune,  March  14,  1874. 


ZACHAKIAH  CHANDLER 

From  the  oil  portrait  in  the  Capitol,  Lansing. 


CHANDLER'S   DEFEAT   IN    1875  125 

among  men  who  held  high  office  in  the  nation's  capital. 
Men  were  growing  weary  of  the  ceaseless  cry  of  the 
Radicals  against  those  who  had  brought  on  the  re 
bellion.  They  felt  that  the  South  had  been  punished 
enough  and  they  were  anxious  to  bring  peace  to  the 
people  who  had  suffered  so  much  for  their  mistaken 
convictions. 

The  condition  of  the  currency  too  was  a  matter 
for  anxious  thought.  The  country  was  suffering  from 
the  effects  of  the  panic  of  1873  and  all  parties  were 
split  into  factions  occupying  diverse  views  on  the 
desirability  of  inflating  the  currency  by  further  issues 
of  greenbacks  or  the  advisability  of  resuming  specie 
payments  and  maintaining  the  currency  on  a  "  sound 
money"  basis.  The  State  conventions  of  all  the 
parties  in  Michigan  were  so  convinced  of  the  hopeless 
ness  of  uniting  their  followers  upon  any  common 
ground  respecting  the  currency  question  that  they  all 
adopted  platforms  so  vague  in  their  terms  on  this 
point  that  both  hard-money  and  soft-money  men 
could  read  them  with  hope  if  not  with  confidence. 
In  the  Republican  party  in  Michigan  the  seriousness 
of  this  diversity  in  its  ranks  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
the  two  Senators  occupied  diverse  positions  upon  the 
money  question:  Mr.  Chandler  demanded  hard  money 
and  the  immediate  resumption  of  specie  payments; 
Mr.  Ferry  demanded  inflation  by  further  issues  of 
greenbacks.  In  his  campaign  speeches,  Mr.  Chandler, 
who  knew  his  Bible  well,  quoted  from  the  Scriptures 
to  prove  that  the  Liberal  Republican  party  was  of 
ancient  origin — was,  in  fact,  born  in  the  Cave  of 
Abdullam.  The  Democratic  press  ridiculed  these  "  ser- 


126  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

mons"  and  redoubled  their  attacks  upon  Mr.  Chand 
ler's  personal  habits. 

The  tidal-wave  of  1874  wrought  havoc  with  the 
Republican  party  of  Michigan.  They  secured  a  bare 
majority  in  the  Legislature.  The  Senate  had  18 
Republicans  and  14  Democrats;  in  the  House  there 
were  53  Republicans  and  47  Democrats.5  Immediately 
following  the  election  the  Senatorial  question  began 
to  be  widely  discussed.  The  Detroit  Tribune  led  the 
opposition  to  Mr.  Chandler.  This  paper  admitted 
that  on  the  questions  growing  out  of  the  war  and 
slavery,  Mr.  Chandler's  votes  and  speeches  had  been 
on  the  right  side;  it  acknowledged  that  no  trait  of 
personal  venality  attached  to  him;  but  it  declared  that 
he  had  identified  himself  with  an  obnoxious  system  of 
party  management  which  had  resulted  in  wide-spread 
.discontent  with  the  Republican  party;  he  represented 
the  spoils  system  and  opposed  reform;  he  was  a  machine 
politician;  he  dominated  the  "Ring"  in  Michigan  and 
was  associated  with  Butler  in  Washington.6 

Mr.  Chandler  was  already  "organizing  victory." 
As  early  as  August  12,  he  wrote7  to  Charles  T.  Gorham, 
an  able  lieutenant  of  Marshall,  but  at  this  time  United 
States  Minister  to  the  Netherlands: 

"Political  matters  are  looking  very  well  throughout 
the  State  but  I  shall  want  you  here  of  course  as  your 
influence  will  be  important  &  we  make  it  a  rule  never 
to  lose  anything  by  inattention  and  neglect." 

An  illuminating  incident   came   out   in   connection 

5.  Detroit  Tribune,  Nov.  28,  1874. 

6.  Tribune,  Nov.  27,  1874. 

7.  MS  letter. 


CHANDLER'S  DEFEAT  IN   1875  127 

with  a  vacancy  in  the  office  of  deputy  collector  at 
Wyandotte.  There  were  of  course  numerous  ap 
plicants  for  the  place,  Mr.  Griffin,  editor  of  the 
Wyandotte  Courier,  was  among  them.  Being  in 
Detroit  about  November  27,  he  called  on  Chandler's 
right-hand  man,  George  Jerome,  Collector  at  Detroit, 
who  told  him  that  his  commission  was  in  his  safe  but 
that  its  delivery  depended  upon  Representative  Oco- 
bock's  action  in  the  election  of  a  Senator.  In  other 
words  Mr.  Griffin  was  to  become  deputy  collector  in 
case  he  could  influence  the  Representative  from  his 
district  to  vote  for  Mr.  Chandler.8  In  December, 
Mr.  Reynolds,  postmaster  at  Grand  Haven,  received9 
a  large  number  of  newspaper  clippings,  arguing  for 
the  return  of  Mr.  Chandler  to  the  Senate,  accompanied 
by  a  request  that  he  secure  their  insertion  in  the 
Grand  Haven  Herald.  Political  assessments  were  of 
course  levied  on  office-holders  and  so  far  as  possible 
only  Chandler  men  had  been  nominated  for  the  Legis 
lature. 

Mr.  Chandler's  plan10  was  to  call  a  caucus  of  Re- 

8.  Tribune,  Dec.  26,  Dec.  30  and  Free  Press,  Jan.  6,  1875. 

9.  Detroit  Tribune,  Dec.  29,  1874. 

10.     In  writing  this  account  of  Mr.  Chandler's  defeat,  I  have 
relied  upon  the  following  sources : 

a.  The  contemporary  newspapers. 

b.  An  interview  with  Mr.  S.  L.  Kilbourne,  a  Demo 

cratic  member  of  the  Michigan  Legislature  in 
1875. 

c.  A   letter  written  me  by   Mr.   LeRoy   Parker   of 

Batavia,  N.  Y.,  a  Republican  member  from 
Branch  County  who  voted  against  Mr.  Chandler 
in  1875. 

d.  A  letter  from  Rev.  H.   P.   Collin  of  Coldwater, 

Michigan,  who  very  kindly  interviewed  for  me 
Mr.  VanAiken,  one  of  the  seven  Republicans 
who  voted  against  Mr.  Chandler's  election. 


128  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

publican  members  as  soon  as  possible.  He  had  a 
majority  of  the  Republicans  pledged  to  support  him, 
and  the  Republicans  were  a  majority  in  the  Legis 
lature.  If  he  could  get  all  of  the  Republicans  into 
caucus  and  bind  them,  to  him  by  caucus  action  before 
the  opposition  had  time  to  organize,  he  could  win. 
But  there  were  some  Republicans  in  the  Legislature 
that  refused  to  attend  the  caucus  and  stood  firm  upon 
"no  caucus  dictation."  Out  of  71  Republican  mem 
bers  of  the  Legislature  only  59  signed  the  call  and  only 
57  attended  the  caucus.  The  caucus  was  held  on 
Thursday  evening,  January  7.  Upon  the  first  informal 
caucus  ballot,  Mr.  Chandler  received  52  votes;  J.  W. 
Childs,  3;  Judge  J.  V.  Campbell  and  Governor  John 
J.  Bagley  1  each.  A  motion  was  made,  and  put  by  a 
standing  vote,  to  make  the  nomination  unanimous; 
but  one  member,  Bailey  of  Shiawassee,  voted,  No. 
The  caucus,  then,  had  bound  57  members  to  vote  for 
Mr.  Chandler;  67  were  necessary  to  elect  him.  The 
men  who  stayed  out  of  the  caucus  were  Senator  Jones 
of  Branch,  Representatives  Billings  and  Parker  of 
Genesee,  Van  Aiken  and  Robinson  of  Branch,  West  of 
Berrien,  Hardin  of  Allegan,  Garfield  and  Briggs  of 
Kent,  Copley  of  Van  Buren,  Neff  of  Wayne, -Ludingt on 
of  Huron,  Ocobock  of  Wayne,  and  Taylor  of  Shiawas 
see.  Both  Ludington  and  Ocobock  signed  the  caucus 
call,  however,  and  voted  for  Chandler. 

Mr.  Chandler  was  on  the  ground  early,  with  an 
immense  lobby  that  attached  itself  to  the  recusant 
Republicans  and  attempted  to  influence  them  by  every 
argument  that  ingenuity  and  skill  could  devise.  Four 
Methodist  ministers  were  conspicuous  members  of  the 


CHANDLER'S  DEFEAT   IN   1875  129 

lobby  and  were  useful  in  attacking  men  on  their 
moral  and  spiritual  side.  Chandler  agents  were  sent 
to  kindle  back-fires  in  the  districts  of  the  doubtful 
members  and  to  circulate  petitions  urging  them  to  vote 
for  Chandler.  Thomas  J.  West  of  Berrien,  who  came 
to  Lansing  an  avowed  anti-Chandler  man,  was  won 
over11  by  a  delegation  of  citizens  from  Benton  Harbor 
imploring  him  not  to  vote  against  Chandler  because 
Chandler,  being  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Com 
merce,  could  get  through  a  hoped-for  appropriation 
for  the  Paw  Paw  River.  Mr.  West  was  taken  by  the 
delegation  to  Mr.  Chandler's  rooms  and  Mr.  Chandler 
declared  that  the  bill  would  receive  his  tenderest  care. 
Nothing  was  said  about  Mr.  West's  vote,  but  Mr. 
West  frankly  told  the  minority  that  he  should  vote  for 
Chandler,  as  he  could  in  this  way  serve  his  constituents 
in  a  vital  matter. 

On  January  19  the  vote  for  United  States  Senator 
was  taken,  the  two  houses  acting  separately.  In  the 
Senate  Mr.  Chandler  received  a  bare  majority:  17  out 
of  32;  in  the  House  no  one  had  a  majority.  On  the 
following  day  the  two  Houses  met  in  joint  convention. 
On  the  first  ballot,  Mr.  Chandler  received  64  votes; 
the  Democrats  gave  60  votes  for  George  V.  N.  Lothrop; 
I.  P.  Christiancy  received  5  and  J.  Webster  Childs,  3; 
total  132;  necessary  to  a  choice,  67.  Mr.  Chandler 
lacked  but  three  votes  of  a  majority.  Of  the  14  Re 
publicans  who  refused  to  attend  the  caucus,  seven 
had  been  won  over  and  seven  remained  obdurate. 
Representative  Garfield  of  Kent  had  surrendered  only 
at  the  last  moment.  He  wa£  old  and  weak  from,  sick- 

1 1 .     Tribune,  January  11,  1875. 
17 


130  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

ness  and  had  been  subjected  to  lobby  pressure  day 
and  night.  As  he  arose  to  vote  he  said,  "  Contrary  to 
my  own  convictions  but  in  response  to  a  petition 
signed  by  412  of  my  constituents,  and  to  the  persistent 
demands  of  a  lobby  twice  as  large,  I  vote  for  Zachariah 
Chandler."12  On  Wednesday,  the  20th,  then,  no  one 
had  a  majority,  and  the  convention  adjourned.  On 
Thursday,  the  Legislature  again  met  in  joint  con 
vention.  The  Democrats,  despairing  of  gaining  the 
support  of  the  Republican  minority  for  a  Democratic 
candidate,  and  fearful  of  another  Chandler  victory, 
now  united  with  the  seven  anti- Chandler  Republicans 
upon  a  compromise  candidate,  Isaac  P.  Christiancy, 
a  conservative  Republican  and  one  of  the  Justices  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Michigan.  The  first  ballot 
stood  Christiancy  68,  Chandler  63,  Bagley  1.  Before 
the  clerk  could  announce  the  result,  Chandler  men, 
foreseeing  the  defeat  of  their  candidate,  began  to 
change  their  votes  to  various  Republicans  in  hope  of 
attracting  opposition  votes  and  breaking  the  election. 
The  plan  failed.  Zachariah  Chandler  was  defeated 
at  last. 

Of  the  seven  Republicans  who  voted  against  Mr. 
Chandler  to  the  last,  three  were  from.  Branch  County. 
The  Branch  County  men  refused  to  sign  the  call  or 
attend  the  caucus,  and  it  was  afterwards  said  that 
"Branch  County  killed  'Mr.  Chandler."  The  Branch 
County  members  were  opposed  to  the  political  system 
that  he  represented.  They  did  not  belong  to  the 
Chandler  "Ring;"  they  were  farmers  who  wanted  a 
more  democratic  system  of  party  management,  and 

12.     Michigan  Argus,  Jan.  29,  1875. 


CHANDLER'S   DEFEAT   IN    1875  131 

they  had  a  grievance.  Cyrus  G.  Luce,  a  long-time 
resident  of  Gilead  Township,  Branch  County,  a 
farmer  and  a  friend  of  the  Branch  County  members 
of  the  Legislature,  was  opposed  to  Chandler.  He  be 
lieved,  and  they  believed,  that  Mr.  Chandler  had 
cheated  Mr.  Luce  out  of  a  Republican  nomination  for 
State  Treasurer  by  directing  the  tellers  in  the  Re 
publican  Convention  to  announce  fraudulently  that  a 
ballot  for  State  Treasurer,  by  which  Mr.  Luce  would 
have  received  the  nomination,  was  void,  there  being 
more  votes  than  delegates. 

Representative  Parker  of  Genesee  opposed  Mr. 
Chandler  on  account  of  his  political  methods.  A 
letter  from,  him  reads : 

"The  State  had  been  almost  lost  to  the  party  that 
fall  and  I  was  confident  that  it  was  largely  due  to  the 
too  practical  politics  of  Senator  Chandler." 

But  back  of  all  these  reasons  there  lay  a  cause  that 
is  bound  to  overtake  the  most  astute  of  politicians, 
and  that  is,  the  pushing  of  the  younger  element  for 
recognition.  These  seven  Republicans  were  young 
men,  who  resented  the  dominance  of  a  ring  of  older 
politicians.  Chandler  had  held  office  for  eighteen 
years;  he  had  his  friends,  tried  and  true,  whom  he  kept 
in  the  most  lucrative  positions  within  his  control. 
The  young  men  wanted  their  share,  and  in  1875  they 
had  an  opportunity  to  throw  down  the  barriers  that 
had  so  long  kept  them,  from  place  and  power. 

Mr.  Chandler  felt  greatly  chagrined  over  his  defeat, 
and  took  the  first  train  for  Washington,  On  February 
17  he  wrote  to  C.  T.  Gorham  the  following  letter— 


132  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

"United  States  Senate  Chamber, 
"Washington,  Feb.  17,  1875. 
"My  Dear  Sir, 

"Your  kind  favor  of  the  20th  of  Dec.  has  been  mis 
laid  or  would  have  received  earlier  reply. 

"The  Senatorial  contest  is  over  and  the  Democrats 
with  a  handful  of  bolting  quasi  Republicans  have  won 
the  victory. 

"They  hope  by  this  maneuvre  to  so  demoralize  the 
Republican  party  in  the  State,  that  it  can  be  carried 
for  the  Democracy  in  1876  but  I  shall  do  what  I  can 
to  cause  their  victory  to  be  a  barren  one  to  turn  their 
rejoicings  into  lamentations,  to  see  that  their  bright 
hopes,  like  Dead  Sea  fruit,  turn  to  ashes  on  their  lips. 

"They  also  solace  themselves  with  the  idea  that 
having  been  beaten  in  this  contest,  I  will  of  course  go 
into  state  of  retirement,  seldom  if  ever  to  be  heard 
from  again.  In  this  they  will  meet  with  another 
great  disappointment,  for  with  a  fair  prospect  of  at 
least  twenty  years  more  of  vigorous  health  I  shall  be 
able  to  make  the  working  of  their  political  plans  an 
interesting  puzzle  to  all  parties  in  interest. 

"Our  work  is  plain  but  laborious.  With  unity,  har 
mony  and  hard  work  we  can  still  keep  the  Democratic 
forces  training  in  the  awkward  squad  while  ours  stand 
shoulder  to  shoulder. 

"Very  truly  yours, 

"Z.  CHANDLER. 
"Hon.  C.  T.  Gorham." 


CHAPTER  XV 

SUMMARY  OF   MR.    CHANDLER'S  POLITICAL   CAREER, 

1875-1879 

OOME  of  Mr.  Chandler's  most  important  work  was 
done  after  his  retirement  from  the  Senate 
March  4,  1875.  In  October  of  that  year  he  was  ap 
pointed,  by  President  Grant,  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
to  succeed  Mr.  Delano.  Mr.  Chandler  made  many 
changes  in  the  personnel  of  his  Department,  put  a 
stop  to  the  glaring  frauds  which  existed  there  and  in 
troduced  business  methods  of  administration.1 

In  the  summer  of  1876,  Mr.  Chandler  was  chosen 
Chairman  of  the  National  Republican  Committee. 
He  was  the  real  director  of  the  Hayes  campaign,  and 
the  incongruity  of  the  campaign  of  a  civil  service  re 
form  candidate  directed  by  a  dyed-in-the-wool  spoils 
man  like  Zachariah  Chandler,  did  not  escape  comment.2 
On  the  morning  after  the  election  Mr.  Chandler  sent 
the  following  telegram3  over  the  wires  of  the  Associated 
Press:  " Rutherford  B.  Hayes  has  received  one  hun 
dred  and*  eighty-five  electoral  votes,  and  is  elected." 

1.  George  F.  Hoar  says  in  his  Autobiography  of  Seventy  Years 

(II,  75),  "I  knew  him  afterwards  in  the  Department  of 
the  Interior.  He  was,  in  my  judgment,  the  ablest  ad 
ministrative  officer  without  an  exception  who  has  been 
in  any  executive  department  during  my  public  life." 

2.  Letter  of  E.  L.  Godkin  to  C.  E.  Norton  as  given  in  Ogden's 

Life  of  Godkin,  II,  112-113. 

3.  Foulke,  Life  of  Oliver  P.  Morton,  II,  432;  John  Sherman's 

Recollections  of  Forty  Years,  I,  553. 


134  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

There  are  men  still  living  who  believe  that  the  final 
success  of  Hayes  was  due  to  the  efficiency  of  Zachariah 
Chandler's  political  methods  in  manipulating  the  re 
turning  boards  in  the  Southern  States.  Once  elected, 
however,  President  Hayes  appointed  his  Cabinet  from 
the  reforming  element  of  his  party,  and  Carl  Schurz, 
to  the  chagrin  of  the  radicals,4  succeeded  Mr.  Chandler 
in  the  Interior  Department.  On  April  26,  1877,  Mr. 
Chandler  wrote5  to  C.  T.  Gorham: 

'The  D—  —1  is  let  loose  for  a  season.  The  mo 
ment  you  &  I  left  it  was  announced  [?]  that  neither 
of  us  would  return  and  the  Indian  Bureau  thieves 
commenced  their  onslaught.  Smith  is  run  by  the 
Chief  Clerk  and  /  think  is  captured  by  the  thieves. 
At  any  rate  he  has  recommended  the  most  of  them. 
Any  one  but  you  and  I  would  say  let  em  come  back  but 
I  cannot  consent  even  for  our  Glory  to  have  it  done 

Why  should   I  desire  [?]  any  [?]  more  of   strife 

and  confusion  I  dont  know. 

He  wrote  again  to  Mr.  Gorham6  on  May  9:  "I  am 
not  a  candidate  for  Christiancy's  seat.  I  will  not  at 
tempt  to  apologize  for  what  has  no  apology.  I  will 
not  fight  the  battles  of  57,  8,  9  and  60  over  again. 
Then  I  was  in  pistol  and  rifle  practice  and  met  the  Rebs 
on  equal  ground  now  I  am  out  of  practice  &  am  over 
60  years  of  age.  .  .  .Hayes  has  passed  The  Repub 
party  over  to  its  worst  enemy.  We  have  no  hope  for 

4.  Reminiscences  of  Carl  Schurz,  III,  375. 

5.  MS  letter. 

6.  MS  letter. 


STATUE  OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER 

In    Statuary    Hall,    United    States    Capitol. 


SUMMARY    1875-79  135 

1878  even  in  Ohio  &  Indiana  or  Illinois  but  can  &  will 
beat  them  in  1880." 

On  February  18,  1879,  Mr.  Chandler  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate  to  serve  the  unexpired  term 
of  I.  P.  Christiancy,  resigned.  Mr.  Chandler's  "Jeff." 
Davis  Speech"  of  March  3,  1879,  was  the  sensation 
of  the  close  of  the  session.  The  Catapaign  of  1879 
found  Mr.  Chandler  again  upon  the  stump.  On 
October  31  he  spoke  at  Chicago.  That  night  he  re 
tired,  as  well,  apparently,  as  usual.  The  following 
morning  he  was  found  dead  in  his  bed  at  the  Grand 
Pacific  Hotel. 

With  the  death  of  Zachariah  Chandler  a  national 
figure  passed  away.  His  political  position  was  more 
commanding  during  the  summer  of  1879  than  ever 
before.7  Even  in  NewT  England  he  was  received  with 
unbounded  enthusiasm,  and  but  for  his  sudden  death 
he  would  have  been  among  the  most  formidable 
candidates  for  the  Presidency  at  the  next  election.8 

7.  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  II,  642. 

8.  George  F.  Hoar,  Autobiography  of  Seventy  Years,  II,  76. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    AIDS 

Dilla,  H.  M.     The  Politics  of  Michigan,  1865-1878.     (Columbia 

University  Studies,  Vol.  XLVII,  No.  1),  pp.  255-258. 
Index  to  New  York  Tribune,  1876-1880. 

GENERAL  SECONDARY  WORKS 

Appleton's  Annual  Cyclopaedia,  1864. 

McPherson,  E.,  Political  History  of  the  Great  Rebellion. 

McPherson,  E.,  Political  History  of  the  United  States  During  ike 

Period  of  Reconstruction,  1865-1870. 
Moore,  F.i  Rebellion  Record,  1861-1868. 

STATISTICS 

Michigan  Almanac,  published  by  Detroit  Tribune  Co. 
Michigan  Legislative  Manuals. 

Tribune  Almanac,  published  by  New  York  Tribune. 
World  Almanac,  published  by  New  York  World. 

OFFICIAL    DOCUMENTS 

Congressional  Globe  and  Congressional  Record. 

Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War. 

PERIODICALS 

American  Whig  Review,  Dec.,  1852.     "A  Political  Letter." 
Frank  Leslie's  Illustrated  Newspaper,  May  15th,  1869,  has  a  short 

article  on  Z.  Chandler. 
Granite  Monthly,  March,  1882.     Article  by  M.  M.  Culver,  "New 

Hampshire  Men  in  Michigan,  No.  2.     Hon.  Z.  Chandler." 
Magazine  of  Western  History,  for  June,  July  and  August,  1886. 

Article  on  Mr.  Chandler  by  Walter  Buell. 
Political  Science  Quarterly,  Vol.  VII,  p.  522,  A.  D.  Morse,  "The 

Republican  Party." 
Putnam's  Magazine,  September,  1854,  "Our  Parties  and  Politics." 


140  ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER 

BIOGRAPHIES    (INDIVIDUAL) 

Fessenden,  F.,  Wm.  Pitt  Fessenden. 

Flower,  F.  A.,  Edwin  M.  Stanton. 

Flower,  F.  A.,  Matthew  H.  Carpenter. 

Foulke,  W.  D.,  Oliver  P.  Morton. 

Hamlin,  C.  E.,  Hannibal  Hamlin. 

McLaughlin,  A.  C.,  I^ewis  Cass. 

Merriam,  G.  S.,  Samuel  Bowles. 

Nicolay  and  Hay,  Abraham  Lincoln.     A  History. 

Nicolay  and  Hay,  Complete  Works  of  A.  Lincoln,  Vol.  IX,  p.  112. 

Pierce,  E.  L.,  Charles  Sumner. 

Post-Tribune,  Zachariah  Chandler. 

Riddle,  A.  G.,  Benjamin  F.  Wade. 

BIOGRAPHIES  (COLLECTED) 

Appleton,  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Biography. 

•Barnes,  W.  H.,  History  of  Congress  (40th  and  41st). 

Bersey,  J.,  Cyclopaedia  of  Michigan. 

H.  Taylor  Company  (publishers),  Compendium  of  the  History  and 

Biography  of  Detroit. 

Farmer,  S.,  History  of  Detroit  and  Michigan,  Vo  .  II. 
National  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Biography. 

NEWSPAPERS 

Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  Michigan  Argus. 

Detroit,    Michigan,    Advertiser;    Advertiser    and    Tribune;    Daily 

Democrat;  Free  Press;  Post;  Tribune. 
Jackson,  Michigan,  Citizen. 
Marshall,  Michigan,  Statesman. 
New  York,  N.  Y.,  Nation. 
Niles,  Michigan,  Republican. 
Pontiac,  Michigan,  Gazette. 
Springfield,  Mass.,  Republican. 

NEWSPAPER   CLIPPINGS    (COLLECTED) 

McPherson's  Scrap  Books.     (Pol.  1864-1875)  Library  of  Congress. 
Tdwnsend  Library,  Columbia  University. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  141 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY   AND    REMINISCENCES 

Elaine,  Jas.  G.,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress. 

Grant,  U.  S.,  Personal  Memoirs. 

Hoar,  G.  F.,  Autobiography  of  Seventy  Years. 

Julian,  G.  W.,  Political  Recollections. 

McClellan,  G.  B.,  Own  Story. 

McClure,  A.  K.,  Recollections  of  Half  a  Century. 

Poore,  B.  P.,  Per  ley's  Reminiscences. 

Riddle,  A.  G.,  Recollections  of  War  Times. 

Schurz,  C.,  Reminiscences. 

Sherman,  J.,  Recollections  of  Forty  Years. 

MONOGRAPHS 

Campbell,  J.  V.,  Outlines  of  Political  History  of  Michigan. 

Cox,  S.  S.,  Three  Decades  of  Federal  Legislation. 

Curtis,  F.,  The  Republican  Party. 

De  Land,  V.,  History  of  Jackson  County. 

De  Witt,  D.  M.,  Impeachment  and  Trial  of  A.  Johnson. 

Dilla,  H.  M.,  Political  History  of  Michigan,  1865-1878. 

Farmer,  S.,  History  of  Detroit  and  Michigan,  Vol.  I. 

Haworth,  P.  L.,  Hayes-Tilden  Disputed  Presidential  Election  of 
1876. 

Macy,  J.,  Political  Parties. 

Michigan  Historical  Collections,  Vols.  XIV,  XXXV,  XXXVIII. 

Roberts,  R.  E.,  Sketches  of  Detroit. 

Turner,  F.  J.,  "The  West  as  a  Field  for  Historical  Study"  in  Amer 
ican  Historical  Association,  Report,  1896. 

MANUSCRIPT    MATERIAL 

I  have  found  Chandler  letters  or  letters  concerning  Chandler 
among  the  Lyman  Trumbull,  E.  B.  Washburn  and  Andrew 
Johnson  papers  in  the  Congressional  Library  and  among  the 
Jacob  M.  Howard  and  Jas.  F.  Joy  papers  in  the  Burton  Library 
in  Detroit.  I  found  a  letter  of  some  importance  from  Mr. 
Chandler  in  the  possession  of  the  Historical  Commission  in 
Lansing,  Michigan.  Mrs.  A.  F.  Redfield  of  Marshall,  Michigan, 
allowed  me  to  copy  some  eighteen  letters  written  by  Mr. 
Chandler  to  C.  T.  Gorham. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Adams,  C.  F.,  49 

Advertiser,  Detroit  newspaper,  21, 
28 

Advertiser  and  Tribune,  Detroit 
newspaper,  103 

Alabama  claims,  99 

Antietam,  battle  of,  helped  Re 
publicans  carry  elections  in  1862, 
67 

Bagley,  John  J.,  128 

Baptists,  denounced  for  anti- 
slavery  agitation,  32 

Barnes,  Henry,  Detroit  editor, 
delegate  to  National  Union  Con 
vention,  1866,  92 

Bibliography,  general  aids,  136; 
general  secondary  works;  statis 
tical  works,  136;  documents,  136; 
periodicals,  136;  biographies,  137; 
newspapers,  137;  newspaper  clip 
pings  (collected),  137;  autobiog 
raphies  and  reminiscences,  137; 
monographs,  137 ;  manuscript  ma 
terials,  137 

Bingham,  Kinsley  S., 

eulogized  by  Chandler  at  Jack 
son  Convention,  25;  nominated 
Governor  of  Michigan  by  Free 
Democrats,  23;  nominated  Gov 
ernor  of  Michigan  by  Republi 
cans  (1854),  25;  elected  Governor 
of  Michigan,  28;  candidate  for 
United  States  Senate  (1857),  40; 
opposes  compromise,  54;  elected 
to  Senate,  63;  death,  63 

"Blair,  Austin,  49,  53,  54,  74; 

candidate  for  United  States  Sen 
ate,  40,  63,  108-109/118;  betrayed 


by  Ferry  (1868),  108-109;  Chand 
ler  punishes  his  supporters,  112; 
character,  108;  joins  Liberal  Re 
publicans,  119;  accused  by 
Chandler  of  dishonesty  in  office, 
119;  denounced  by  Chandler,  121 

Blair-Fish  letter,  118 

Blair,  Montgomery,  58,  74 

Blodgett,  Delos  A.,  37,  67 

Blood-letter,  54,  66 

Branch  County,  members  in  legis 
lature  help  defeat  Chandler  in 
1875,  130 

Brown,  John,  Chandler's  speech  on, 
47-48 

Buchanan,  James,  28,  45-47 

Bull  Run,  Battle  of,  Chandler 
present  at,  57,  58 

Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  126;  Chand 
ler's  opinion  of,  59;  Chandler's 
defence  of,  72;  certifies  to  Chand 
ler's  sobriety,  106 

Cameron,  Simon,  117;  agreement 
with  Wade  and  Chandler  to 
resent  insults  of  Southern  Sena 
tors,  48 

Campaign  of,  see  Election  of 

Campbell,  Judge  J.  V.,  128;  Out 
lines  of  Political  History  of  Mich 
igan,  138 

Cass,  Lewis,  17,  25;  quoted  on  con 
duct  of  clergy  in  politics,  33"; 
Nicholson  letter,  39;  character 
ized,  40 

Catholics,  23,  35  (n.  9),  37,  67;  see 
Democratic  party 

Chandler,  Zachariah 
Early  years,  7 


146 


INDEX 


Mayor  of  Detroit;  nominated  by 
Whigs  (1851),  7;  elected,  8; 
city  printing  controversy,  10-11; 
quoted  on  failure  of  Revolution 
of  1848,  12-13;  comments  on  his 
administration,  13 
Candidate  for  Governor  of  Mich 
igan;  nominated  by  Whigs  (1852), 
14;  quoted  on  his  nomination; 
14;  campaign  speeches,  17;  de 
feat,  18;  see  Election  of  1852  in 
Michigan 

Work  in  formation  of  Republican 
Party  in  Michigan;  activity  in 
anti-slavery  meeting  in  Detroit 
in  1854,  21;  negotiates  with  Free 
Soilers,  23;  favors  dissolution  of 
Whig  party  and  organization  of 
a  new  party  based  on  anti- 
slavery,  21;  leader  in  Jackson 
Convention,  24;  speech  at  Jack 
son  Convention,  24-25;  his  re 
ward  to  come  later,  26;  a  true 
»  representation  of  the  radical 
spirit  of  the  Northwest,  34; 
quoted  on  election  of  1862,  37 
Elected  to  succeed  Lewis.  Cass 
in  Senate  (1857);  real  struggle 
took  place  in  Republican  caucus, 
40;  political  methods,  41;  nature 
of  his  support,  41;  reasons  for  his 
success,  41-44 

Early  Years  in  the  Senate  and 
Campaign  of  1860;  slaveocracy 
in  control  opposed  by  Chandler, 
44;  speech  attacking  Democrats 
for  monopolizing  memberships  on 
standing  committees,  45;  speech 
on  Kansas  (Mar.  12,  1858),  45; 
efforts  to  secure  appropriation  for 
channel  through  St.  Clair  Flats, 
46;  arraigns  Democrats  for  ex 
travagance,  46-47;  speech  on 
John  Brown  raid,  47-48;  insult 
ing  speeches  of  Southern  Senators 


resented,  48;  letter  to  Lyman 
Trumbull  on  Campaign  of  1860, 
48-49;  campaign  speeches  in 
Michigan,  New  York,  New  Eng 
land  and  Illinois,  49;  letter  to 
Lyman  Trumbull  urging  that 
Lincoln  visit  Detroit,  49-50; 
letter  to  Lyman  Trumbull  on 
financial  situation  (Nov.  1860), 
51-52 

Senator  in  War  Time;  letter  to 
Gov.  Blair  opposing  Peace  Con 
gress,   53;  Blood-letter,  53;  votes 
on  Corwin  proposition  and  Chit- 
tenden   Resolutions,    54    (n.    4); 
speech     of     Mar.     2     defending 
Blood-letter  and  opposing  all  com 
promise,    54-55;    acrid    reply    of 
Sen.  Wigfall  of  Texas,  55-56;  re 
marks   on   Pacific   Railway  bill, 
56;   amendment   to   Pacific   Ry. 
bill  agreed  to  by  Senate,  56  (n. 
10);     urges     Lincoln    to     arrest 
traitors  in  Congress,  57;  present 
at  Bull  Run,  57;  urges  Lincoln  to 
prosecute  war  more  vigorously, 
57;    calls    upon    McClellan,    57; 
offers  .resolution  in  Senate  to  ap 
point  committee  on  Conduct  of 
the  War,  58;  appointed  member 
of  Committee  on  Conduct  of  the 
War,  59;  speech  in  Senate  against 
McClellan,  60;  letter  to  Trum 
bull  on  early  reverses  of  Union 
Arms,   60-61;    narrow  and    prej 
udiced  yet  courageous  and  zeal 
ous,  62;  supports  policy  of  con 
fiscating  rebel  property,  62;  op 
poses  J.  M.  Howard  for  Senator 
and    favors    H.    G.    Wells,    63; 
political  methods,  64 
Campaign  of  1862  in  Michigan 
and     Second     Election     to     the 
Senate;  his  reelection  to  Senate 
the  chief ,  issue  in  campaign  of 


INDEX 


147 


1862,  65;  political  methods,  65- 
66;     letter     to     Trumbull,     66; 
letter    to    C.    T.    Gorham,    67; 
lobby    at    Lansing,    Jan.,    1863, 
68;    nominated    by    unanimous 
vote  on  first  informal  ballot,  68; 
James    F.    Joy,    Address    to    the 
Legislature,    68-69;    reelected    to 
Senate,  69 

In  the  Senate,  1863  and  1864; 
speech  in  support  of  Currency 
bill,  70-72;  introduces  bill  on 
Confederate  property,  72;  de 
fends  B.  F.  Butler,  72;  remarks 
on  Rebel  rights,  72;  letter  to 
Trumbull,  72-73;  stumps  Ohio  in 
Sept.,  74;  denounces  Conserva-  • 
tive  Republicans  in  letter  to 
Lincoln,  74;  Lincoln's  reply,  75; 
delighted  with  President's  mes 
sage  on  reconstruction,  Dec.  8, 

1863,  75;  speaks  against  commut 
ing  military  service  by  a  money 
payment,    75;      favors     bill    to 
prohibit     speculation     in     gold, 
75-76;  remarks  on  "regular  lines 
between      Detroit    and     Liver 
pool,"    76;    assaulted     by  Cop 
perheads    in     National      Hotel, 
76;    favors    death    penalty    for 
officers  who  sell  military  supplies 
to  the  enemy,  77;  urges  Lincoln 
to  sign  Wade- Davis  bill,  77-78; 
Lincoln's    reply,    78-79;    reasons 
for  opposition  to  Cleveland  con 
vention  and  candidacy  of   Fre 
mont,    79-80    (n.     23);    induces 
Fremont  to  withdraw  and  helps 
heal  breach  in  Republican  party, 
80-81;  in  campaign  of  1864,  81. 
The  Years  1865-1866;  reasons  for 
his  hostility  towards  Great  Bri 
tain,    82-83;    personality,    82-83; 
"twists    the   lion's   tail,"    83-84; 
favors  policy  of  retaliatiori  upoq 


rebel  prisoners  for  cruelties  suf 
fered  by  Union  soldiers  in  South 
ern  prisons,  84-86;  helps  defeat 
joint  resolution  to  recognize  State 
of  Louisiana,  86;  delighted  with 
Andrew  Johnson's  sentiments  on 
reconstruction,  86;  slow  to  be 
come  an  anti- Johnson  man,  87; 
violent  speech  against  Great 
Britain,  87;  letter  to  Chicago 
Tribune,  88 ;  remarks  on  Sumner's 
resolution  of  protest  against  prac 
tice  of  pardoning  criminals  abroad 
on  condition  that  they  emigrate 
to  the  United  States,  88;  favors 
liberal  interpretation  of  Inter 
state  Commerce  clause,  89;  work 
in  connection  with  committee  on 
commerce,  88-90;  position  on  re 
construction  issues  in  campaign 
of  1866,  92-93;  campaign  meth 
ods,  94 

Foreign  Affairs  and  Reconstruc 
tion,  1866-1868;  why  Chandler 
was  radical  on  reconstruction, 
95-96;  jingoistic  attitude  on  for 
eign  affairs,  96-97;  attacks  Sec. 
McCulloch,  97-98;  votes  guilty  in 
impeachment  trial  of  Johnson, 
98;  offers  resolution  in  Senate  in 
regard  to  French  troops  in  Mexi 
co,  99;  remarks  on  Alabama 
Claims,  99-100;  speech  on  Mex 
ico,  100;  offers  joint  resolution 
on  Abyssinia,  100;  speech  against 
Great  Britain,  100-101 
Grant's  First  Administration  and 
Campaign  of  1872;  firm  believer 
in  protective  tariff,  111;  "twists 
the  lion's  tail,"  111;  secures 
Federal  appointments  for  friends 
and  supporters,  111-112;  his  trip 
to  Europe,  113;  opposes  inflation 
of  the  currency,  114;  opposes 
establishment  of  an  agency 


148 


INDEX 


abroad  for  payment  of  interest 
on  the  national  debt,  114;  offers 
resolution  looking  to  the  annexa 
tion  of  Winnipeg,  114-115;  speech 
on  same,  115;  efforts  in  behalf  of 
bill  to  enforce  'the  Fifteenth 
Amendment,  115;  speech  in  favor 
of  annexation  of  San  Domingo, 
116;  attacks  on  Sumner,  116; 
letter  to  Chas.  T.  Gorham  com 
menting  on  Sumner  and  Grant, 
116;  his  influence  with  Grant, 
116-117;  opposed  to  civil  ser 
vice  reform,  117;  member  of  "Ku 
Klux  Committee,"  117;  per 
sonally  honest  but  a  practical 
politician,  117;  quoted  on  Sena 
torial  contest  of  Jan.,  1871,  118; 
denounces  cry  for  reform  and 
waves  "bloody  shirt"  in  cam 
paign  of  1872,  119-120;  letters  to 
C.  T..  Gorham  on  campaign  of 
1872,  120-121 

Grant's  Second  Term  and  Chand 
ler's  Defeat  in  1875;  votes 
against  Salary  Grab  bill,  123; 
living  expenses,  123;  debut  'of 
Miss  Chandler  described  by  Mark 
Twain,  123;  opposes  further  in 
flation  of  the  currency,  123-124; 
in  campaign  of  1874,  125;  meth 
ods  used  to  secure  reelection  to 
Senate,  126-130;  lobby  at  Lans 
ing,  128-129;  vote  in  the  Legis 
lature  and  defeat  of  Chandler, 
129-130;  analysis  of  causes  for 
his  defeat,  130-131;  letter  to 
C.  T.  Gorham  commenting  on 
his  defeat,  131 

Summary  of  Chandler's  Political 
Career,  1875-1879;  Secretary  of 
the  Interior  in  Grant's  cabinet, 
133;  chairman  of  National  Re 
publican  Committee  and  real 
director  of  Hayes'  campaign, 


133-134;  turned  out  of  Dept.  of 
Interior,  134;  letters  to  C.  T. 
Gorham,  134;  elected  to  Senate 
to  serve  unexpired  term  of  I.  P. 
Christiancy,  135;  Jeff  Davis 
speech,  135;  death,  135 

Cheboygan,  34-35,  37 

ghilds,  J.  Webster,  128,  129 

Chippewa  County,  35,  37 

Christiancy,  Isaac  P.,  candidate  for 
Senate  (1857),  40;  (1863),  63; 
succeeds  Chandler  in  the  Senate, 
130;  resigns,  135 

Civil  Service  reform,  117 

Clay,  C.  M.,  49 

Cleveland  Convention  (1864),  79 

Commerce,  Senate  committee  on, 
45;  Chandler's  work  on,  88 

Compromise  of  1850,  15;  repeal  of 
denounced  by  Northern  Whigs,  2 1 

Conduct  of  the  War,  committee  on, 
58,  59  (n.  17  and  18),  61,  62,  66, 
85,  86 

Confiscation  of  Rebel  property, 
Chandler  in  favor  of,  62 

Congress,  see  Chandler 

Copperheads,  95 ;  Chandler's  hatred 
for,  76 

Credit  Mobilier,  124 

Crittenden  Resolutions  54,  (n.  4) 

Cuba,  46,  47 

Currency  bill,  70  ff.,  123-124,  114 

De  Land,  Charles  V.,  History  of 
Jackson  County,  138 

Delta  County,  politics  of,  37 

Dilla,  H.  M.,  Politics  of  Michigan 
1865-1878,  136 

Democratic  party,  strength  in  Mich 
igan  in  1848  and  1852,  20;  vote 
in  Congress  on  Kansas- Nebraska 
bill,  20-21;  strength  among  newly 
arrived  immigrants,  23 ;  really  the 
party  of  aristocrats,  29;  strong  in 
certain  parts  of  Michigan,  34,  37; 
Irish  and,  35;  Catholics  and,  35, 


INDEX 


149 


37;  French  and,  35-36;. Germans 
and,  36;  Hollanders  and,  36; 
Episcopalians  and,  37;  monop 
olizes  memberships  of  Senate 
committees  in  35th  Congress,  45 ; 
see  Election 

Detroit,  Chandler  nominated 
Mayor  of,-  7;  population  (1851), 
7;  city  improvements  needed 
(1851),  28;  Democratic  strong 
hold  (1851),  8;  Chandler  elected 
Mayor  of  (1851),  8;  nature  of  the 
office,  9;  sympathy  for  Revolu 
tion  of  1848,  11;  anti-slavery 
meeting  in  (1854),  21;  Tribune, 
Whig  organ,  21;  Advertiser,  Whig 
organ,  21;  Free  Press,  Democra 
tic  newspaper,  21;  citizens  un 
easy  over  possibility  of  attacks 
by  Confederates  from  Canada, 
82;  National  Union  Convention 
at  in  1866,  92;  Post  established 
as  organ  of  Chandler  "Ring," 
103;  gives  Republican  majority 
in  1872,  122. 

Dutch,  see  Hollanders 

Edmunds,  James,  M.,  112 

Election  of  1852  in  Michigan,  14  ff. 

Election  of  1854  in  Michigan,  28 

Election  of  1860  in  Michigan,  51; 
see  Chandler 

Election  of  1862  in  Michigan,  65  ff. 

Election  of  1864  in  Michigan,  81 

Election  of  1866  in  Michigan,  91  ff. 

Election  of  1868  in  Michigan,  102  ff. 

Election  of  1872  in  Michigan,  118  ff. 

Election  of  1874  in  Michigan,  124  ff. 

Emancipation  Proclamation,  67 

Emmet  County,  politics  of,  34-35, 
37 

Episcopalians,  politics  of,  37,  67 

Erie  Canal,  89 

Farmer,  S.,  History  of  Detroit  and 
Michigan,  138 


Ferry,  Thomas  W.,  108-109,  112, 
118; 125 

Fifteenth  Amendment,  115 

Fourteenth  Amendment,  91; 
Chandler's  views  on,  93,  98 

Free  Democrats,  20-22 

Free  Soilers,  15,  18,  22;  strength 
in  Michigan  in  1848  and  1852, 
20;  convention  at  Jackson  (1854), 
23;  convention  at  Kalamazoo,  24 

Fremont,  John  C.,  59;  nominated 
for  president  at  Cleveland  (1864), 
79;  withdraws,  80 

French,  political  affiliations  of, 
35-36 

Fugitive  Slave  Law,  15;  not  the 
cause  of  the  dissolution  of  the 
Whig  party  in  Michigan,  20 

Funding  bill,  114 

"Fusionists,"  65;  nominate  Jas.  F. 
Joy  for  United  States  Senate 
(1863),  68 

Germans,  political  affiliations  of, 
36 

Governor  of  Michigan,  Chandler 
nominated  by  Whigs  (1852),  14; 
Bingham  nominated  by  Repub 
licans  (1854),  25;  Bingham  elect 
ed,  28;  politics  of  since  1854,  28 
(n.  13) 

Gorham,  Charles  T.,  37,  120,  126, 
132,  134 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  116-117,  120,  122, 
124,  133 

Great  Britain,  reasons  for  Chand 
ler's  hostility  towards,  82-83; 
Chandler  "twists  the  lion's  tail," 
83-84,  87-88,  99-101,  111,  114-115 

Greeley,  Horace,  21,  120,  121,  122 

Hay,  John,  quoted,  75 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  133,  134 

Helper's  Impending  Crisis,  47,  47 
(n.  8) 

Hollanders  in  Mich.,  politics  of,  36 


150 


INDEX 


Howard,  Jacob  M.,  102,  108;  can 
didate  for  Senate  (1857),  40; 
candidate  for  Senate  (1861),  63; 
elected  to  Senate  to  succeed 
Bingham,  deceased,  64;  relations 
with  Chandler,  64;  hostility  for 
Pres.  Johnson,  91;  introduces 
bill  in  Senate  favoring  policy  of 
retaliation  upon  rebel  prisoners, 
84;  letter  from  Chandler  with 
note  by  Howard  on  Struggle  over 
bill  to  enforce  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment,  115-116;  in  Sena 
torial  election  of  1871,  118 

Howard,  William  A.,  50;  quotes 
Chandler  on  his  nomination  for 
Governor  of  Michigan,  14;  faith 
ful  supporter  of  Chandler,  112 

Houghton,  Mich.,  37,  111 

Internal  improvements,  17 

Irish,  political  affiliations,  35 

Isle  Royal,  90 

Jackson,  Andrew,  52 

Jackson,  Michigan,  Republican 
party  founded  at,  24  ff. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  quoted,  54 

Jerome,  George,  111-112,  127 

Johnson,  Andrew,  member  of  Com 
mittee  on  Conduct  of  the  War, 
59,  86;  early  friendship  with 
Chandler,  86-87;  remarks  on  re 
construction  delight  the  Radicals, 
86;  reconstruction  policy,  91; 
Chandler  turns  against,  93; 
Chandler  favors  impeachment  of, 
97-98 

Joy.  James  F.,  nominated  by 
Fusionists  for  Senate  (1863),  63; 
Address  to  the  Legislature,  68-69; 
delegate  to  National  Union  Con 
vention  (1866),  92 

Julian,  George  W.,  Political  Recol 
lections,  138 

Kalamazoo,  Michigan,  Free  Soil 
Convention  at  (1854),  24 


Kansas,  Chandler's  speech  on 
(March  12,  1858),  45 

Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  21;  the  oc 
casion  not  the  cause  for  the  dis 
solution  of  the  Whig  party  in 
Mich.,  party  votes  on  in  Con 
gress,  20-21;  issue  of  results  in 
mass  meetings  throughout  Mich. 
(1854),  21 

Kellogg,  F.  W.,  49 

Kent  County,  politics  of,  36 

Keweenaw  County^,  politics  of,  37 

Kinkel,  Dr.  Gottfried,  visit  to 
Detroit,  12 

Know  Nothing  party,  28 

Kossuth,  Louis,  11 

Ku  Klux  Committee,  117 

Lacey,  Samuel,  112 

Lefavour,  Edward,  112 

Liberal  Republican  party,  118-119, 
124 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  49-50,  51,  57, 
61,  67,  73-75,  78,  81,  86,  116. 

Lothrop,  G.  V.  N.,  129 

Luce,  Cyrus  G.,  131 

McClellan,  General  George  B.,  61, 
81;  visited  by  Chandler,  Trum- 
bull  and  Wade,  57;  quoted,  57-58; 
Chandler's  opinion  of,  59 ;  Chand 
ler's  speech  against,  60;  removed 
from  Command,  60;  electoral 
vote  for  (1864),  81 

McClelland,  Robert,  nominated  for 
Governor  of  Michigan,  by  Demo 
crats,  14;  characterized,  14 

McCulloch,  Hugh,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  attacked  by  Chandler, 
97-98 

Mackinac  County,  politics  of,  35,  37 

Manistee  County,  strongly  anti- 
slavery,  32 

Mark  Twain,  123 

Marquette  County,  politics  of,  37 

Maynard,  A.  B.,  112 

Mayor  of  Detroit,  Chandler  nomin- 


INDEX 


151 


ated   by   Whigs,    7;    elected,    8; 
nature  of  the  office  (1851),  9 
Menominee  County,  politics  of,  37 
Methodists,  33 

Mexico,  Chandler  introduces  reso 
lution  in  Senate  on  French  troops 
in,  99;  Chandler's  speech  on,  100 

Michigan,  Chandler  nominated 
Governor  of,  14;  causes  for  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  in,  30  ff. ; 
strength  of  union  sentiment  in, 
37-38;  sends  no  delegates  to 
Peace  Congress,  53;  Chandler 
secures  liberal  Federal  appro 
priations  for,  89;  dissolution  of 
Whig  party  in,  see  Whig  party 

Michigan  Central  Railroad,  50 

Monroe  Doctrine,  114 

Nashua  Letter,  16 

National  Reform  party,  124 

National  Unionist  party,  91-92 

Newspapers,  bibliography,  137; 
New  York  Tribune,  21,  32; 
Detroit  Post,  103;  Detroit  Ad 
vertiser  and  Tribune,  103 

New  York,  State  of,  89 

New  York  Tribune,  21,  32 

Niagara  ship  canal,  89 

Nicholson  Letter,  39 

Oglesby,  Governor  of  Illinois,  102- 
103 

Ontonagon  County,  politics  of,  37 

Ottawa  County,  politics  of,  36 

Pacific  Railway,  Chandler's  re 
marks  on,  56;  Chandler's  amend 
ment  to  bill  to  establish  accepted 
by  the  Senate,  56  (n.  10) 

Peace  Congress,  Michigan  not  rep 
resented  in,  53 

Pierce,  Franklin,  15-17 

Port  Hudson,  73 

Post,  Detroit  newspaper,  estab 
lished  as  Chandler  organ,  103 

Post-Tribune  Life  of  Zachariah 
Chandler,  137 


Press-Gaglaw,  124 
Radical  Republicans,  118-119 
ReoLRiver  Expedition,  59 
Republican     party     of     Michigan, 
founded,  24  ff.;  early  feeling  in 
resulting     from     fusion     of     old 
parties,    26;   organized  for  cam 
paign    of     1854,    27-28;    gained 
ascendency  in  Michigan  (1854), 
28;    characterized,    29,  40;  dom 
inated     by     Chandler     104-105; 
see  Election 

Riddle,    A.    G.,    quoted,    74;    Ben 
jamin  F.  Wade,  137 
Rowlson,  H.  B.,  112 
Saginaw  Bay,  90 
Saginaw  Valley,  24 
St.  Albans  raiders,  84 
St.  Clair  Flats,  Chandler's  efforts 
to  secure  Federal  appropriation 
for  channel  through,  46,  90 
Salary  Grab  bill,  123,  124 
San  Domingo,  116 
Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal,  17 
Schurz,  Carl,  134 
Scott,  Winfield,  15,  16,  17,  18,  57, 

58 

Seward,   Wm.    H.,    73,    74;   enter 
tained  at  Chandler's  home,  49; 
castigated   by   Chandler    (1866), 
93 
Stanton,   Edwin  M.,   Secretary  of 

War,  60,  73,  98 
Stuart,  Charles  E.,  63,  92 
Sumner,  Charles,  86  (n.  6),  87,  88, 

116,  117,  120,  124 
Swift,  George,  112 
Thorpe,  William,  quoted,  98 
Trumbull,  Lyman,  48,  49,  50,  51, 
60,  66,  72,  86;  urges  Lincoln -to 
prosecute  the   war  more  vigor 
ously,  57;  denounced  by  Chand 
ler  (1872),  119 

Union  Democrats,  in  campaign  of 
1862,  65 


152 


INDEX 


United  States  Bank,  18 

Van  Raalte,  Rev.  A.  C.,  36 

Voorhees,  "Dan,"  76-77 

Wade,  Benjamin  P.,  49,  53,  86,  87; 
agreement  with  Chandler  and 
Cameron  to  resent  insults  of 
Southern  Senators,  48;  present 
at  Bull  Run,  57;  urges  Lincoln 
to  force  the  fighting,  57;  member 
of  Committee  on  Conduct  of  the 
War,  59 

Wade-Davis  bill,  Chandler  urges 
Lincoln  to  sign,  78 

Waldron,  Henry,  quoted,  51 

Warren,  Joseph,  21 

Wayne  County,  population  and 
politics,  34  (n.  8),  122 

Weed,  Thurlow,  74,  75 


Wells,  Hezekiah  G.,  Candidate  for 
Senate  (1863),  63;  supported  by 
Chandler,  63 

Whig  party,  nominates  Chandler 
for  Mayor  of  Detroit  (1851),  7; 
nominates  Chandler  for  Gov 
ernor  of  Michigan  (1852),  14; 
adjourns  convention  (1854)  with 
out  making  nominations,  27; 
causes  for  dissolution  in  Mich 
igan,  20  ff. 

Wigfall,  Senator,  56,  57 

Williams,  General  John  R.,  8 

Wilmot  Proviso,  25 

Winnipeg,  114        ^ 

Wisner,  Moses,  candidate  for  Senate 
(1857),  40 


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Public  life  of          H22 
Zachariah  Chandler, 
1851-1875. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
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